We look back at the past three-years and try and evaluate is there any truth in the rumour that Simon Grayson is not trusted with the clubs precious transfer kitty.

A newspaper report this week suggested that club insiders say Ken Bates is reluctant to let Simon Grayson loose with the cash this January, are Larry's signing's up to scratch?

Without a doubt, our jewel in the crown is Robert Snodgrass who was signed by Gary McAllister, up until his recent drop of form another McAllister buy probably would have pushed Johnny Howson, who emerged through the youth ranks as our second most coveted star, eg Luciano Becchio.

Grayson's first game in charge was on Boxing Day 2008 when we drew 1-1 with Leicester City, as Leeds made the play-offs (losing in the two legs to Millwall) his first signing was lifelong Leeds fan Richard Naylor from Ipswich Town, Nayls or Bam Bam was at times inspirational but alas ageing and injury prone and there was no real surprise when he moved to Doncaster last summer.

American Mike Grella was next up and he looked world class, against Kettering in the 2nd round FA Cup replay against Kettering. Grella clearly was never really in his manager's plans and moved to Brentford earlier this season.

Grayson has made heavy use of the loan market and between Boxing Day 08 and the season's finale against Millwall he brought five in. Carl Dickinson, Lee Trundle, Sam Sodje, Liam Dickinson and Daryl Flahaven. Flahaven was signed as keeper-cover and never used. Messers Trundle (now at Neath) and Liam Dickinson were a waste of space. I liked Carl Dickinson (left-back) who has since joined Watford for £250,000. Sodje was rated by the fans too, but apparently Grayson chose not to offer him a permanent deal when his contract with Charlton expired and plumped for Paddy Kisnorbo instead.

As well as Kisnorbo, in the summer of 2009 Grayson added Shane Higgs and Jason Crowe to his squad. Higgs the ex-Cheltenham keeper I thought was a reliable back-up keeper and unlucky not to be offered a new-deal. Like Crowe, who we didn't see much to write home about, he is now a Northampton Town player.

Grayson added Leigh Bromby who is still at the club, but other than his ability to launch dangerous long-throws, I have not seen that much of him to suggest he warrants a regular slot and statistics show Grayson must be in similar mind. Nine more players came in on-loan, Mike Doyle (Coventry), Max Gradel (Leicester), Sam Vokes (Wolves), David Martin (Liverpool), Hogan Ephraim (QPR), Tony Capaldi (Cardiff), Shane Lowry (Aston Villa), Gary McSheffrey (Birmingham), Neil Collins (Preston) and Sanchez Watt (Arsenal).

Out of his loan-men, I would say only two or maybe three made any impact that season, Gradel - who Grayson was wise enough to snap up for a bargain £175k, Watt and maybe Collins - who was soon moved on to Sheffield United. Grayson also took Davide Somma on trial, which proved to be a great signing after his loan-spel at Lincoln and Paul Dickov was signed on a short-term deal.

With promotion secured to the Championship in 2010, the loss of Jermaine Beckford was the biggest headache for Grayson to contend with- Somma luckily emerged as supersub and Becchio was soon amongst the goals. Grayson added Kasper Schmeichel (Notts Co), Billy Paynter (Swindon), Fede Bessone (Swansea), Paul Connolly (Derby), Alex Bruce (Ipswich), Ross McCormack (Cardiff), Lloyd Sam (Charlton) and Adam Clayton (Manchester City) initially on loan,

Schmeichel moved on at a handsome profit and I think Simon got this right, I think Lonergan (and McCarthy) are better keepers and the young Dane is overrated. Paynter, despite his hat-trick for Swindon and 29 goals in 2009/10 is not Championship class - currently on loan to Brighton his record at the time of writing is 8 starts without a goal for the seagulls and due back after next Monday's fixtures.

Bessone was a disaster signing and has returned to south Wales. Connolly is okay, but surely we will need better full-backs as we push on? Bruce has moved to Huddersfield (on loan) nuff said, McCormack has proven his worth, Sam started well but is too inconsistent. Clayton, who has been linked with big money moves away from Leeds drifts out of games too often for my liking so the jury is out on whether not not big spending City have blundered in letting a talented youngster leave.

During 2010/11 Grayson also signed Sanchez Watt again on loan, Jason Brown (Blackburn-loan), Amdy Faye (short-term), George McCartney (Sunderland-loan), Ramon Nunez (trial), Ben Alnwick and Jake Livermore (Spurs-loan), Andy O'Brien (Bolton-loan), Eric Lichaj and Barry Bannan (Villa-loan) and David Gonzales (Man City - loan) - Nunez on his day and played in the right position, which I feel is in the role behind the front one/two is potentially a world-beater if somewhat lightweight. The other player who is still at the club, Andy O'Brien will surely be on his way having fallen out with Grayson.

So on to last summer's signings and Grayson's most recent, which led to many fans accusing the club of lack of investment on the field - it was initially low-key as just Michael Brown and Paul Rachubka arrived. Brown has put in a couple of half-decent performances and several bone-crunching challenges is always a good way to endear yourself to an audience weaned on Bremner, Hunter et al but really he is a signing five years too late.

Rachubka is Grayson's achilles heel. A keeper he obviously knows very well from his Blackpool days, surely he could not even legislate for his shocking blunders against Coventry and Blackpool? I doubt he will ever play for Leeds again and he has since moved to Tranmere somewhat hastily. Grayson's judgement in keepers was clearly redeemed when he managed to bring in Alex McCarthy on loan from Reading at short-notice who is clearly a goalie with a big future in front of him.

Luckily Grayson pursued Andy Lonergan long and hard and when he seemed destined for Everton, Leeds snatched him back in the 11th hour and what a quality signing he has been overall.

Adding the experience of Maik Taylor to the squad, Grayson has five keepers to call upon with youngster Alex Cairns also on the books. Grayson has also loaned Celtic's Darren O'Dea and clearly not made the same mistake as his previous loanee club Ipswich and deployed him as a left-back, O'Dea has proved to be a steady signing despite suffering a head injury which sidelined him for several weeks.

Two Finnish players have been signed on short-term deals on freebies, Mika Vayrynen and Mikael Forsell - neither have really had much of an opportunity to show off the talents that made them so coveted earlier in their careers.

Danny Pugh has come in initially on loan and even at £500,000, which is a kings ransom these days for Leeds, he looks like a useful buy should the deal go to plan.

If Leeds wanted to make Andrew Keogh's transfer permanent from Wolves, as the Irishman who began his career at ER has spoken of his desire, then it is likely to cost a bit more than the price agreed for Pugh. Keogh initially impressed with his work-rate and when he started banging in a few goals, he looked like a must-have. In recent weeks, he has lost his place to Luciano Becchio who has looked out of sorts.

Overall Grayson has not had much to spend. I cannot say he has used the loan-market as wisely as other clubs have done and his high-profile blunder signings (Bessone, Rachubka) have been free-transfers.

So really the ball is in Ken's corner, this January Bates must back him or sack him! However with 29 first teamers on the books, Grayson will surely have to trim his squad and move several faces on.

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