Despite hailing Alan Tate as a "calming influence", Neil Warnock's decision to send the defender back to snowbound Swansea has raised one or two eyebrows if not the Leeds managers' own. Only Warnock himself knows why when seemingly Tate was on the verge of a permanent move at the turn of the year.
A fee of around £275,000 has been widely quoted in the press as Swansea's asking price, but Leeds opted to extend his loan deal until January 27th and Tate was granted permission to play for us in the FA Cup.
The 30-year-old defender was indeed a calming influence in his first couple of games, particularly those back to back impressive home-wins against Palace and Leicester in November but since then, I have suspected he has caught the highly contagious Leeds defender virus (LDV) the strains which have lingered around the ground and Thorp Arch for nearly three seasons now.
Sufferers initially experience bouts of confusion and dizziness, this in turn leads to loss of sensory awareness and positional sense. In almost every case the patient will experience a chronic reduction and eventual loss of mobility.
There is no known cure as yet, so far sending patients to recover in far flung places such as Canada, Portsmouth or even Preston has failed to improve the symptoms.
The real truth is surely closer than this!? Ideally Warnock will have someone much better to bring in, defence is an area he should be focusing on given Adam Drury's injury which could see him miss 2/3 months but hopefully any signing of a centre-half will not tempt Neil to revert Lee Peltier back to left-back?
It may also be that funds are tight as ever and we needed Tate off the wage bill?
I'm sure all will out before the glorious 31st, in the meantime we thank Tate for his efforts and wish him a safe journey back to the Valleys.