Warnock goes it alone as he sends out Leeds scouts

The 63-year-old thought the weekend might be best spent watching prospective signings whom he feels could make all the difference to United’s prospects come 2012-13.

Warnock plans a major overhaul of the Elland Road squad after spending his first two months at the club assessing the players he inherited from Simon Grayson.

Darren O’Dea, who has spent the season on loan from Celtic, has already been told he has played his last game for Leeds, and earlier this week midfield player Mika Vayrynen and left-back Ben Parker were released.

Further departures are likely to follow the final-day visit of Leicester City to Elland Road a week today as Warnock continues to cast his eye around for possible new arrivals in the summer – which is the reason he initially considered being elsewhere today.

Since then, however, the Leeds chief has had a change of heart and will be in the dugout – albeit on his own.

Warnock told the Yorkshire Post: “Mick Jones (Leeds assistant manager) and Ronnie (Jepson, first-team coach) will not be with me due to being elsewhere scouting.

“We want to watch as many possible signings in person as we can and this seemed the best way of achieving that.

“To be honest, at first I was thinking of doing the same and going to another game myself. But, considering what is at stake for Cardiff and us needing to try and get a result, I decided against it.

“So, I will be in the dugout at Cardiff but, more or less, on my own as Mick and Ronnie watch games elsewhere.

“I think I know what I need and the chairman has promised to do the best he can to bring the players in we need. We plan to make our first signing on May 6 or 7 and, hopefully, that will be the first of a few.

“We want to try and do our business as early as possible as that will allow us to plan and prepare properly for next season. We don’t want to be still scrabbling around once the season has started.”

United travel to South Wales for their final away game of the season having lost five of their last seven matches.

The Yorkshire club also have a poor record in Cardiff with four of their five visits since the turn of the Millennium having ended in defeat.

With the home side needing a win from the lunchtime kick-off to guarantee a play-off place, Leeds face an uphill task in the Valleys as they look to bounce back from Tuesday’s defeat at Blackpool.

The United manager said: “I thought we did all right at Blackpool and for long periods I don’t think anyone would have been able to tell which team was challenging for the play-offs and which team was in mid-table.

“The red card (for O’Dea, who misses today’s game through suspension as a result) was a silly one but I thought we did quite well.

“Cardiff will be desperate to win. But we will have a great backing from our fans and it should be a good game.”