Brighton and Hove Albion will look to continue their unbeaten 2012 this weekend with the trip to the Champions of Europe (Leeds United, not Barcelona. Thank Christ). After promotion from League One and coming oh-so-close to securing a play-off place last season Ken Bates has done his best in the last few weeks to re-establish Leeds as England’s biggest joke club, a position they filled well after financial ruin followed decisions such as paying Seth Johnson £40k a week, by selling their best players, spending next-to-bugger-all money replacing them and then sacking Simon Grayson despite being just outside the top six. It means that late-90′s Premier League relegation specialist Neil Redfearn is in charge tomorrow as Gus Poyet looks to plot victory over his former employers. And with Poyet having criticised Bates’ decision to get rid of Grayson, the chairman’s programme notes should be interesting
tomorrow.

Who are Leeds?
The last side to lift the title before the Premier League era began and constant challengers for at least a Champions League spot as recent ago as 2002. One of England’s biggest clubs, their fall from grace was fast and probably eclipsed any seen so far as they slipped into League One where they spent three seasons competing with the giants of Cheltenham Town and Hereford United just six years after being one game from the European Cup final. Ken Bates arrival saw more prudent times follow after the lavish spending that nearly killed the club, and an instant return to the Premier League nearly followed their promotion from the third tier. Having sold a number of their better players while Bates focuses on improving the corporate facilities at Elland Road and thus spending very little as the below song illustrates, it looked like a transitional season but they are still well in play-off contention despite parting company with Grayson

Their history with Brighton?
Regular opponents in the 70s and 80s, we began locking horns again in the mid 00′s in our two seasons in the Championship where, despite Leeds constantly pushing for promotion, we beat them both times at Withdean and drew both times at Elland Road. Leeds have had the better of the meetings since and their is some history between the fans with trouble flaring around Brighton Station on some of their previous visits to Sussex.

Last time we met?
A thriller live on Sky at The Amex back in September. Leeds stormed into a 2-0 lead before the Albion fought back to go 3-2 ahead with Craig Mackail-Smith looking every part a £2.5m striker in easily his best game in the blue and white. Unfortunately, a last minute equaliser secured a point for the visitors and it would be over a month before we won a game again. Our last visit to Leeds in 2010 saw another last minute goal secure a point for the opposition after Adam Virgo had been sent off for a tackle that somehow did not feature on Crime Watch. A Jermaine Beckford double helped the Champions of Europe to a 3-1 win in October 2008 over Micky Adams vintage side featuring no less than four loan players and we last won in the city way back in 1985 with a 3-2 success in the old Division Two.

Who has played for both?
We’re beginning to wonder if Ian Baird has played for every single club in the Championship as it’s another one to count him for. Casper Ankergren obviously spent time at Elland Road before heading south and Leeds went through a period when we acted as somewhat of a feeder club for them with both Dan Harding and Seb Carole signing after their contracts at Withdean ran out. Bradley Johnson came to Withdean on-loan and was one of Micky Adams few successful loan signings which says a lot given how many of them there were, while new boy Sam Vokes had a temporary spell in Yorkshire with Albion fans hoping his similar arrangement at The Amex will turn out better than another Leeds player in the shape of Billy Paynter’s did.

Who to look out for?
Ross McCormack has 14 goals to his name already this season and should prove to be a handful for the Albion defence to get to grips with if his Amex performance was anything to go by. Fabian Delph is back at Elland Road on-loan from Aston Villa for whom he put in a fine performance against the Seagulls in the FA Cup two seasons ago while despite constantly being linked with a move away, Robert Snodgrass remains with the club.

Prediction?
Ken Bates described the game earlier in the week as a winnable won. And to be fair, it probably is given our away record this season. But since January we seem to be made of sterner stuff on the road so we’ll plump for a 1-1 draw. And if Vicente doesn’t pull a hamstring boarding the bus or decides it will be too cold up north then we’d fancy our chances of a win.