An introduction to a Yorkshire blog started by Tim Hill. 

Intriguing times for Yorkshire football. And when I say intriguing, I mean grim. No club in the top-flight again, two clubs (Rotherham and Leeds) within a whisker of going bust this summer, and Sheffield United so desperate to get back into the Premier League they’re willing to spend ?4m on James Beattie.

But like an especially sickening car crash, this season should be fascinating, in a perverse sort of way. As usual, Leeds should command most of the attention, especially as everyone around the country seems to be pissing themselves at their current strife. Languishing isn’t the word: starting life in the third tier with a 15-point deduction, with barely 11 fit players to choose from, and with the unfortunate reality of having Dennis Wise as manager - Leeds fans have plenty to worry about.

Sheffield United should prosper, in spite of, rather than because of, the appointment of Bryan Robson as manager (honestly, Kevin McCabe, what were you thinking?). Robson reckons Beattie and Billy Sharp are the premier strike partnership in the Championship, which is a bit like being described as the best-looking couple at a Young Farmers disco, but between them they ought to score plenty of goals. Wednesday, who offered Patrick Kluivert a trial over the summer and seemed shocked when he laughed in their face, had a decent finish to last season, but they’re not quite good enough yet. If only John Harkes were still playing.

Scunthorpe fans are in the midst of an especially soppy love affair with manager Nigel Adkins (”Who needs Mourinho/When we’ve got our physio?”, as the not-very-witty terrace chant goes) after he masterminded their promotion to the second tier, but if we’re being honest, they’re classic relegation fodder, because they’re fairly terrible. Ditto Hull. Ditto Barnsley, with knobs on. Heady times, though, at Bradford. Able to buy players for the first time since 2001, and with local hero Stuart McCall back in the hotseat (look up ?Stuart+McCall+drunk? on YouTube and tell me British football’s still stuck in the Dark Ages), there’s even a hint of optimism at Valley Parade. And then to the dross, of which Yorkshire has plenty. Huddersfield and Doncaster might aspire to mid-table mediocrity in League One, Rotherham might not even aspire to that in League Two, and Grimsby remain, well, Grimsby. Roll on the new season.

Tim Hill - The White Rose