Blackstock on horizon as Hall banned on return to Leeds

The 25-year-old was informed of the punishment yesterday – which means the winger must stay away from Elland Road while an internal investigation takes place – when he returned from a month-long loan spell at Sheffield United.

Leeds, who are keen on bringing Nottingham Forest striker Dexter Blackstock in on loan, then released the news of Hall’s suspension via an official statement, confirming only that a “disciplinary issue” was the cause.

The Yorkshire Post understands that Hall’s use of social media platform Twitter over the past week or so is behind the player being told to stay away.

Last weekend, Hall, after being omitted from the Blades’ squad to face Port Vale, made a controversial reference to his footballing situation when he tweeted: “Look on the bright side if your (sic) not getting played take the L out and get payed (sic).”

When criticised for displaying such an attitude by a number of Leeds fans over Twitter, Hall replied: “Football is such a short career and can end at anytime with an injury so do whatever you can to earn as much money as possible.”

On Sunday morning, he then further annoyed his critics by tweeting: “Just woke up and seen all these tweets(.) what small minded people.”

It is, however, a message from a Leeds fan that Hall retweeted to his 16,000 plus followers that is likely to have landed him in hot water.

Supporter Carl Smith wrote a message directly to the Leeds winger that read: “Ryan Hall comes on and sets up a goal from a decent cross. Something we’ve been missing all season so wake up McDermott.”

By re-tweeting the message on October 13, Hall could be seen to have endorsed the sentiment.

It is unclear what punishment he could face if Leeds find him guilty of breaking club rules on the use of social network websites.

The 25-year-old, whose contract runs until the summer of 2015, has endured a miserable time at Elland Road since joining last season under then manager Neil Warnock.

He has made just two starts for Leeds and was loaned out to Sheffield United earlier this season.

However, after featuring five times, Hall was dropped from the squad to face Port Vale last Saturday and has now returned to Leeds.

This is not the first time that Twitter has caused problems for the Elland Road club with former manager Simon Grayson banning all his players from using the platform during his time in charge.

Grayson had been angered by news of a serious injury to Davide Somma being revealed by the player and took the step of preventing any United players from posting on the site to prevent a repeat.

Leeds, meanwhile, are keen on bringing Blackstock in on loan to pep up an attack that, even allowing for Sunday’s 4-0 win over Birmingham City, has scored just 14 goals in 12 outings this term.

The striker has previously been linked with a possible move to Brighton & Hove Albion.