Maybe there will be life without Luciano?

If we are a troubled club, it certainly was not on show at home to Tottenham on Sunday.

I must admit, I felt the atmosphere was a little subdued as we kicked-off. Why? Was it the silly kick-off time courtesy of a payday from one of the lesser satellite broadcasters?

Or was it down to some Argy Bargy? After all this was the first public gathering post the Becchio's decision to seek a transfer away after five years in a white shirt.

Ironically our opponents knew all about Argentinians, that wonderful pairing of Villa and Ardiles with the added ingredient of the FA Cup evoking brilliant memories of the late 70's early 80's. It is fair to say Tottenham are probably my least favourite team from the capital behind Millwall, how I loathe their gobby, arrogant, swaggering supporters but my childhood memories of Ossie and Ricky take me back to more gentle times even though the Falklands conflict was brewing.

On a much lesser and less bloodier scale of course, the war of words between the club and Becchio was in full swing by kick-off. Leeds opened fire with a terse statement announcing Becchio's desire to leave, with the added spice of him snubbing a contract that would further elevate his status as the club's highest earner. Indeed Neil Warnock called it a "Premiership contract". Becchio's Mr 10%, Horacio somebody or other (cannot be bothered to google his name) responded with a long statement rubbishing those claims, Luciano loves Leeds,the fans etc but must make this decision for his wife and kids etc etc etc zzzzzzzz.

Typically the man at the centre of the debate had not even made the bench and was either watching at home or scouring Zoopla for suitable properties in Shanghai or Istanbul even (although the club felt it neccesary to release a short statement that Becchio was not about to "do a Kewell" on us).

A muted chorus of "Luciano cost less than Berbatov and scores more goals" rang round Elland Road and no doubt many Leeds fans, like me, were querying Warnock's decision to banish our 19-goal striker and scorer of our goal here when these sides met in 2010? Particularly as no other than Luke Varney was on the pitch.

Michael Brown too! I shook my head in disbelief. Like Football Agents, another aspect of our modern game that has me reaching for the sickbag is the "captain for the day" malarkey, Today the armband rotated to Michael Brown, presumably because of his time spent with Spurs earlier in his career.

Neil, Varney, Brownie...I eat my hat. "You were great lads!".

Varney took his goal like a world class finisher, not the uncultured, journeyman waster who began his career on the Leicestershire mudflats of Quorn FC (and some might say should be dispatched back there ASAP). Indeed on Tuesday I'm off to the Farley Way ground Varney's transfer from Quorn to Crewe helped pay for and prior to kick-off I would have happily driven him back there myself.

However his mud splattered kit, his eagerness to run at Tottenham's millionaire midfielders and the spirit that epitomised Leeds immense victory had the Kop roaring "Varney Army!" In his honour. Indeed he seemed to share a joke with Leicestershire ref Kevin Friend, probably along the lines of "this time last week they were taking the piss!".

Brown too, another to fall foul recently of the ever-critical Elland Road panel of judges put in a captains performance. He led by example, he never stopped battling and running. I feared his old legs, culpable normally in giving away silly free-kicks and mistimed, often cynical tackles would be a major weak link against the artisans from north London. Amazingly he was not booked until deep into stoppage time.

However it was a team effort. Jamie Ashdown's performance in goal suggested the gap between him and Paddy Kenny is really a slim one and under a different coach he might be first-choice. A young defence consisting of White, Peltier, Lees and Byram held firm. Peltier played like a man without the weight of the world on his shoulders for a change, playing as a more natural centre-half his last gasp tackle on Dembele in the dying moments was sheer class from another player who has borne the brunt of fans frustration in respect of our league form.

However man-of-the-match for me was Sam Byram. What a way to celebrate signing a new deal to keep him at Leeds until 2016 and after yesterday's performance, clubs like Spurs et al can forget about picking off our best young players on the cheap like they did with Aaron Lennon. On this form, £10m for Young Sam wouldn't look ridiculous.

A point well-made on the post match phone-ins, including by Warnock himself argued Becchio's absence almost forced us into playing passing football! I suppose the swirling wind might have had a hand in it too but fair comment!

Yes it is a distraction from our faltering promotion campaign to ensure sides with the quality of Tottenham come here every second Saturday (well ok there may be the Stoke's and Wigan's of this world too), yes the last four days of the dratted transfer-window will be nervy times. Where will Luciano's future lie? Will we get a "few more in over the line" as Warnock keeps saying?

Lets just savour the moment! Let us ride into work this morning with our heads held mightily high and proud. Lets look forward to a reunion with our old friends in the Blue Half of Manchester, like us under Arab ownership these days and experience in handling petulant Argentines of their own.

Photo: Action Images

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