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 Bring our Beckford Back!Mon 30th Jul 2012 21:57 What a home coming and the icing on the cake! There is no doubt about it, lose Ross McCormack and our ability to score goals is nullified! Despite no obvious transfer budget of any great significance, we have been linked with a succession of strikers who would not come that cheap...DJ Campbell, Craig Mackail-Smith and Nicky Maynard. The one who would really capture the imagination though is Jermaine Beckford! In the week leading up to the final game of the season, the damp squib 2-1 defeat at home to Leicester, Leeds chairman Ken Bates claimed he had been reoffered the services of Beckford twice. Beckford left in 2010 for Everton having scored 86 times in a Leeds shirt, having hardly set the world alight on Merseyside he switched to big spending Championship underachievers Leicester in a £2.5m deal. Again his time away from Leeds has been indifferent. Largely renown as an FA Cup goalscorer with 6 in the competition, he managed just 9 league goals in 36 appearances and many Leicester fans I knew told me they could not understand what the fuss was about. Prior to last Christmas, I understand Beckford was fruitlessly toiling on the wing for the Foxes when I maintained they should be using his pace to knock through balls down the middle for him to latch on to! I have been attending matches at Elland Road since March 1989, however I can honestly say hand-on-heart I have never witnessed a former Leeds player receive such a fantastic welcome than Beckford did on April 28th. His name boomed from the stands as the pre-kick off handshakes took place, momentarily he looked stunned and then enjoyed every minute of it. The chants continued and he slipped in a quick Leeds salute for good measure. He even pulled up short of converting a decent half-chance, obviously it was all too much for the Leicester boss Nigel "Mr Personality" Pearson, charisma personified who subbed him at half-time but as the song went "You're Leeds and you know you are" never had a truer ring, I know it's hard not to let sentiment cloud judgement, after all Becks scored THAT goal at Old Trafford and the strike that ended our three year League One misery, but he knows the place inside out, he can still do a job and his return would give a much needed boost to flagging season ticket sales and interest that has waned due to the takeover debacle. BECKFORD is affordable now Snodgrass has gone and the money is banked in part for Snodgrass, come on Shaun Harvey, grow a pair and bring our Jermaine man back home!
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