What Kasper Schmeichel said - LUTV interview, On the training ground (obviously), promotion & his dad
In full. Enjoy...
Tell us how the move came about
Obviously I was a free agent and I was talking to clubs and the question was raised "would I be interested in Leeds?' and straight away I said yes. I have grown up in England and I know a lot about English football and I know Leeds is one of the biggest clubs in England so I was very interested from the first question.
Were there other clubs after you?
There were other opportunities but Leeds were the ones who showed the most interest. For me, Leeds have got everything. They're a massive club and they've got the facilities and the fanbase to really push on.
You got promoted with Notts County in a similar way Leeds have got promoted too. It must have been fantastic to play in that
Yeah it was great and I've experienced winning the league now and once you get the feeling of winning a trophy, you want to do it again and I'm raring to go. I can't wait to get started.
What do you think can be achieved at Leeds?
I just hope we'll do really well and get promoted but the Championship is such a weird and difficult league and anything can really happen. You look at Blackpool and how they came from nowhere and now all of a sudden they're in the Premier League. So I hope that we start well and get some momentum going and go all the way through.
What has Simon Grayson said to you about the move?
I spoke to him and he told me about how the club worked and the way he likes to work and that really appealed to me. So there wasn't really a lot of decision making to do. As soon as I had spoken to him, my mind was pretty much made up.
You'll be competing with Shane Higgs for the No1 shirt. Nice to have some competition and a high standard of competition as well
Yeah definitely. I followed Leeds quite a lot last season, obviously because Casper Ankergren, another Dane, was here. I know that they played a bit here and there so yeah, it's going to be good. I'm looking forward to it.
What did you make to Leeds last season?
I thought they would have wrapped it up a lot earlier but that's football sometimes, it doesn't always go your way but they got there in the end.
You're on a two-year deal. A lot fans are talking about getting back to the Premier League. Do you think we can do that?
The infrastructure is there. You look at the training ground and the fanbase, and the players are there as well. There's hopefully gonna be a few more additions to the squad as well. I think everything is in place for the club to move forward and they have a great manager too.
Leeds have a big Scandinavian following and you'll probably get a lot of fans and press out there
Leeds is a big club. I'm obviously from Scandinavia so I do know how popular it is and there has been quite a few Scandinavian players here Alfie Haaland, Erik Bakke and obviously Casper Ankergren too. There probably will be a bit from Denmark and Sweden and Norway as well.
A lot of people know about your dad who was a legend on the other side of the pennines for Manchester United, a team who Leeds obviously beat this season. Does he have to become a Leeds fan now?
Of course. He's got to come and watch games now. As soon as Leeds came up he asked me what I wanted to do and I said 'I want to do it'. He said 'I couldn't agree more, it's the best club for you to be at, at the moment'. So yeah, he's delighted with it as well.
You take a lot of advice from him then?
No, no. He asked me what I thought and he just said that he agreed. We discuss things but we don't really discuss football. It's biggest decisions like this is the things that we discuss.
But we can expect to see him down at Elland Road?
(laughs) If he's welcome, yeah! (laughs). He works quite a lot but usually, when he has got time, he comes and watches.
