A famous man with a white-beard will be in Milton Keynes this afternoon...and no he does not have a favourite reindeer called Rudolph or a red suit even.

Ken Bates will reportedly survey the anything-but-festive winter Leeds have endured for himself this afternoon.

The Leeds chairman apparently will be at stadiumMK as Leeds look to reverse worrying recent form of three straight league defeats.

It has been another difficult week for Gary McAllister, on Wednesday he lost one of his coaching staff Neil McDonald to Blackburn Rovers - the ex Carlisle boss linking up with Sam Allardyce at Ewood Park and according to this morning's Irish Times, a book has been opened on who will be the next Leeds boss with Gus Poyet the apparent leader.

The significance of Bates at the game is being played down, according to the Irish Times. Bates will have chance to meet up with some of his old Chelsea mates, including Dons boss Roberto Di-Matteo and shock signing Tore Andre Flo.

Flo came out of retirement last month to bolster the Dons front-line. His time at Leeds was blighted by injury, but having appeared on the Norweigan version of "Strictly Come Dancing" he is apparently ready to don his old shooting boots and fire down the whites.

And remember Jemal Johnson? the striker who came to Leeds on loan during the disasterous 06/07 season? He is now a fully fledged member of the Don's frontline.

However they are likely to be up against 6' 2" French defender Mansour Assoumani, who has been snapped up by Leeds as a free-agent on a short-term deal.

Macca is clearly pinning his hopes on the ex-Montpellier man to help shore-up a dodgy defence, which has blighted our season by giving away gift goals long before the first racks of tinsel and tat appeared in the aisles of Tescos!

He has striker problems of his own, like Flo Malcolm Christie has suffered something of an injury-jinx, the player is now apparently ill with Macca telling the official Leeds site that he suspects somebody has been "sticking pins" in the ex Boro forward!

But are these words of a desperate man cursing his luck, or a condemned man? Will Macca still be around after the Christmas decorations have been cleared away and the last of the Turkey sandwiches polished off? Today surely Leeds have got to show signs of the ability to recover from a humiliating six-weeks or so.

At the very least, those players, who are amongst the best paid players in this Division, if not the best owe this to Macca - a decent man who has put both his faith and now reputation on the line for them! Not to mention us long-suffering fans who have not really had a Christmas to shout about since we were riding high in the Champions League back in 2000.

Photo: Action Images

Leeds United Polls