WHITES BOOST AS BERARDI WINS HIS APPEAL
LEEDS will have defender Gaetano Berardi available for their home clash with Birmingham after his dismissal in the defeat at Millwall was overturned.
The 31-year-old was shown a straight red card in the 14th minute at The Den after being adjudged by referee James Linington to have denied Tom Bradshaw a goalscoring chance when the striker went down inside the box.
Video replays appeared to show little, if any, contact had been made by Berardi. Jed Wallace converted the resulting penalty.
Berardi is now free to face the Blues next Saturday – a game which marks the Yorkshire club’s centenary.
Leeds said in a statement: “An Independent Regulatory Commission has removed Gaetano Berardi’s one-match suspension with immediate effect following a claim of wrongful dismissal.
“The Whites defender was sent off for denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity against Millwall in the EFL Championship on Oct 5, 2019.”
Millwall went on to win 2-1 against ten-man Leeds, who went down to their third Championship loss of the term.
Meanwhile, director of football Victor Orta hopes a planned new academy site at the former Matthew Murray High School can help the club achieve category-one status.
With that would come higher contact time and the right to sign young players from lower-ranked academies for a fixed fee.
Orta said: “We need to treat this like a responsibility. Category One is not about the money, it’s about structures.”
The likes of Kalvin Phillips, Jack Clarke and Jamie Shackleton have come through the club’s academy in recent years.
Orta said: “I respect the academy of this club. If you watch the production of talent, it is amazing. I always support with investment, recruitment and convince the board to grow the academy.”