Sponsored by
Grayson faces tougher task than McAllister
SO what now for Leeds United?
A third season in the third tier of English football beckons and the patience of the fans is really going to be tested after another play-off disappointment.
Mark the date of May 14, 2009 down as another in the ever-lengthening list of heroic failures. Once again it was a case of 'if only' after Luciano Becchio fired up an expectant 37,000 Elland Road crowd by putting the Whites one up only for a Millwall equaliser from Jimmy Abdou 16 minutes from time.
If only indeed. Jermaine Beckford, who had so often been the goal hero during the season, had put away that infamous penalty or maybe if only he had handed the ball to Robert Snodgrass, who took the last spot kick awarded to Leeds and actually scored with it.
For the fourth time United went into play-offs – three in the last four years – and for the fourth time the club stayed exactly where it was before they began.
The answer is clearly to achieve automatic promotion and that is the task manager Simon Grayson knows he faces, or he faces going the same way as Gary McAllister, who had the very same ambition and planning procedure 12 months ago.
In many ways it will be more difficult for Grayson because the expectation level is no less than it was a year ago, but whereas McAllister was able to keep the bulk of the team that had taken Leeds to the Wembley play-off final and had a prodigious young talent to add in Fabian Delph in his junior ranks, the current boss may have to reshape the squad more and with it comes inevitable risks.
Much of Grayson's planning will depend on whether he can hold on to his star names with Delph and Beckford, in particular, likely to attract big bids. There will also be interest for Snodgrass and 19-goal striker Becchio, who both proved successful McAllister acquisitions.
Two experienced first teamers in Jonathan Douglas and Frazer Richardson, meanwhile, have been allowed to slip out of contract and the first decisions will be about exactly how highly are they rated, whether they are to be offered new contracts and how much those contracts would be worth.
Ironically, in the closing weeks of the season Richardson saw his right-back place taken by Douglas and he could not get back into the side after a long injury absence.
Grayson has indicated that financially the club do not need to sell any players this summer, but with a bid of up to 6 million expected to come from a Premiership club for Delph it will be difficult to turn that kind of money down, with League One crowds likely to go down again after the average dropped by 11 per cent from the first season in the division to the second.
Season ticket sales have been healthy already, on the back of hopes of promotion, but the likes of Exeter, Brentford and Yeovil are hardly likely to be big attractions.
The Leeds boss revealed he and chairman Ken Bates had already begun planning for the next campaign in League One before the play-offs, to make sure they were not caught out in case they did not get promotion.
"I'll sit down with the chairman soon but we've already drawn up some plans," said Grayson. "The majority of the squad are under contract, only three aren't, and we don't need to sell any players unless we get ridiculous offers.
"We've got a group of players who are very young but who have already achieved a lot.
"Those young players will feel the benefit of reaching the play-offs. They want to be part of this football club and they want to help this club win promotion.
"I can cope with the expectation levels. It is this type of expectancy that I came to Leeds for. I'm a better person, a better manager and I've learned a lot. I'll use this experience to galvanise the players in July."
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Wakefield
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
