By Bairdy
March 1 2007

Leeds entertain Sheffield Wednesday at Elland Road on Saturday in another crunch match for the Whites - although with Leeds still fixed to the bottom of the Championship and having picked up 1 point from the last 4 games, every game is a crucial. Bairdy gives us the rundown. Currently:
Leeds United go into this Yorkshire derby against rivals Wednesday firmly rooted to the bottom of the table after two narrow 1-0 defeats in the West Midlands. Whilst there can be few complaints at Wolverhampton, where Leeds were simply mauled by the home team, there can be some hope from the defeat at Birmingham where United made a good account of themselves and could easily have come away from the game with a win. The Whites will bemoan the Richard Cresswell 'goal that might have been' when his effort looked to have crossed the line before being bundled away by Clemence.
Worryingly Leeds have lost 3 of the last 4 games with only a 0-0 home draw against QPR to show in that period. The most recent win was at home to Crystal Palace five games ago.
Leeds go into the match with an ever-increasing injury list, with Ankergren & Westlake joining Derry, Kelly, Thompson, Flo, Crainey and Robbie Elliot on the treatment table. Sa made a surprise return against the Blues but almost immediately injured himself again and looks a doubt for Saturday.
Wednesday are 14th with 44 points, some 13 points ahead of Leeds. They will be buoyed by the 3-2 home victory over fellow strugglers Southend United in their last game but this is their only win in five. Defeats at Southampton (1-2) and Luton (2-3) and a home reverse against Preston (1-3) are only bettered by a 1-1 draw at Burnley.

Last game:
Leeds enjoyed victory at Wednesday this season when a David Healy penalty secured a 1-0 victory for the Whites back in August. This one of only three away wins for United in 2006/7 and one that put Leeds 11th going into September.
Leeds won the corresponding fixture last season 3-0 with Cresswell bagging a brace.

Remember, remember:
January 12th 1992 - Wednesday 1 (Sheridan), Leeds 6 (Chapman 3, Dorigo, Whitlow, Wallace). Who can forget this game, 'live' on ITV in our championship winning season? Wednesday were mauled by a Leeds team on their way to the title and the whole country watched it. "Can we play you every week?"

Did you know?:
Eddie Gray and Steve Hodge are two of a limited pool of players who scored on their Leeds United debut's and both these players achieved this against Wednesday - Gray on New Years Day in 1966 and Hodge in August 1991.

Us & them - they played for both clubs:
A few years ago Howard Wilkinson, who managed both clubs and was an ex-Wednesday player, seemed to spend all his time looking through the bargain bins of the Sheffield clubs for players. When he first became Leeds manager in 1988 he immediately turned to some of his Wednesday old boys by signing Carl Shutt, Lee Chapman, Imre Varadi, Mel Sterland and also took 'keeper Chris Turner on loan for a couple of games. Wilko inherited John Pearson & Glynn Snodin, who had been both been signed by Billy Bremner. In 1992 Wilko went back to Wednesday to sign young centre-backs David Wetherall and Jon Newsome who both made their mark in a Leeds shirt before Newsome returned to Hillsborough. Unfortunately, Wilko returned again to Sheffield, this time to sign Carlton Palmer in a then Leeds transfer record £2.9million deal in an attempt to appease disgruntled fans after the sale of David Batty. Another unpopular acquisition was the arrival of Nigel Worthington, who never won fans over and was, in the last couple of years, actually linked with Leeds Manager's job.
In recent years current Whites hitman Richard Cresswell has played for both and looking further back Paul Hart is another of many on the list.

Legend for both:
To a generation of Leeds fans John Sheridan remains a Whites legend. In the 1980's there was not much to cheer about as Leeds were newly relegated, had no money and endured one of the worst hooligan problems in Football history. Then Eddie Gray gave us Shez! Born in Manchester and rejected by City as a youth, Sheridan was signed by Allan Clarke but made his debut under Gray in a 0-0 home game against Middlesborough in November 1982. This was a different era for Football with players paid 'normal' wages and driving modest, dealership sponsored cars. But there was no shortage of passion, skill and loyalty and Sheridan enjoyed all three assets. He was a sublime player, with a killer shot & pass, who could have left Leeds in big money moves on any number of occasions but chose to stay. Shez was a fans favourite and you felt he was one of us.
In 1989 he was involved in a drunken incident in Leeds city centre two days before a game and arrested. This at a time when Wilkinson was installing a new discipline so the time was up for Sheridan, who left for Notts Forest in a £650k deal that summer. Amazingly he only played one game for Brian Clough before being farmed out to Wednesday and enjoyed many seasons at Hillsborough. Shez became an Owls legend when he scored the winner in the League Cup Final against Man Utd, who he had cited as his boyhood heroes.
John Sheridan is fondly remembered by both sets of fans and is the current Manager of Oldham Athletic, who sit in the top three of League One.

Bairdy's Prediction:
This is simply a game Leeds United must win and I cannot contemplate anything but a win for the Whites. I think a tense, nervy encounter with plenty of work for the referee and the home team will come away with a 2-1 victory.