Beren Cross's Leeds United notebook with Darlow-Cairns mischief, loan deal and fixture postponement

Leeds United invited the media to Thorp Arch on Thursday. Roughly once a month, the club’s communications department will make an effort to bring journalists and commercial partners to the training ground for time with the players.

This week, Josuha Guilavogui, Daniel James, Jayden Bogle and Brenden Aaronson were among the names to face the media in one-to-one interviews across the indoor training pitch. There were numerous activities set up around the vast arena with cameras too.

The centrepiece was a huge Christmas display. It was hard to see from a distance what the players were being asked to do, but rest assured, there were colourful jumpers and trees involved.

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It was a very light-hearted and informal environment around the players, which was good to see. There was even room for Alex Cairns and Karl Darlow to max out the gym music to get a reaction from those trying to get these media duties done.

A milestone for Junior Firpo

In Santiago's Estadio Cibao, Dominican Republic defeated Bermuda 6-1 to cap off an unforgettable evening on Tuesday. This triumph marked a historic turning point for Dominican men's football by giving them their first direct ticket to the 2025 Gold Cup and advancing them to League A of the Concacaf Nations League.

Junior Firpo has been instrumental in the turnaround for his birth nation since declaring for them in February this year. He provided two assists in the historic win which finished in the early hours of Wednesday morning UK time.

Coleman extends his loan

Cian Coleman, a midfielder for Leeds United's academy, extended his loan with Buxton of the Vanarama National League North this week. The Republic of Ireland under-19 player will stay with John McGrath's team until January 2025 after first arriving at The Silverlands in October.

With four goals and two assists in his seven games thus far, including an outstanding hat-trick in Buxton's 3-2 triumph away at Scunthorpe United, the midfielder has been in outstanding form for the Bucks. The Derbyshire team's five victories over that time have propelled them up the National League North rankings to sixth place, four points behind leaders Chorley.

Swansea officials decided

Dean Whitestone will serve as match official at the Swansea.com Stadium for United's Championship encounter against Swansea City on Sunday. Whitestone, a seasoned referee, has officiated nearly 600 EFL games since making his debut in a 2005 encounter at Notts County.

The Northamptonshire-based referee has officiated 10 games involving the Whites. Whitestone refereed Daniel Farke's team three times last season, including the 1-0 triumph away at Leicester City, but he hasn't been in the middle to referee Leeds this season.

Under-21 fixture moved

Tonight, the under-21 team were due to play Charlton Athletic's under-21s in the Premier League Cup. The game, which was originally scheduled for Monday, November 25, had been moved to tonight, but has now been called off due to a frozen pitch.

The game, which was due to take place at York's LNER Community Stadium, was set to kick off at 6pm. With one victory, one draw and one defeat from their opening three games, Scott Gardner's team is presently ranked second in Group H of the competition.