By Andy Baggott
May 24 2004

After being expected to announce Kevin Blackwell as the new manager, Leeds have now said that there will be no announcement today, and Peter Lorimor has said it will be at least the end of the week. So why the change of plan? The board met on Friday, and Blackwell could have been named following the meeting. No announcement was forthcoming as the board couldn’t quite agree on all matters. These differences were supposed to be ironed out over the weekend, and confirmation was anticipated today. This has now been put on hold. Judging by this, it now looks as though Blackwell may not be the next manager. The bookies had made him very short priced odds on, around 1/10 – this morning he has drifted to 2/1 – with Ian Dowie going the other direction to be made the new favourite. There are a number of reasons for the delay – but it is likely that Steve Parkin may well have something to do with it. If his takeover is back on again, it might be that his choice of manager would not be Blackwell – Ian Dowie has long been rumoured to be his target. This would definitely tie in. There is also talk that Simon Morris is taking a more ‘hands on’ approach at the club. Little is known of Morris, and the fans will be wary of the property developer who has taken a back seat so far. There are also rumours of Parkin buying in to the current board, rather than taking it over, or Parkin coming in on his own, backed by a number of rich business men from the Leeds Community. Whatever the truth is, we should know a little more after the weekend (when incidentally, West Ham take on Ian Dowies Crystal Palace for a place in the Premiership…)