In this weeks Teenage Kicks In our young writer Darragh Mullen decides to jump the gun.
I was walking home from school today with a scum fan and a scouser. It so happened that the conversation turned to asking each other stupid yes or no questions about each club i.e should Rafa be sacked etc. The scum fan then asked me if I thought Leeds would finish in the top 10 of the Championship next season. Being a scum fan and not following League 1 as religiously as most of us would I couldn’t really blame him for looking at the league table and making that assumption so I didn’t correct him saying it’s not over yet etc. I would see myself as a realistic fan rather than an optimistic one meaning that I realise we are basically a poor standard football team but I also realise that because we are Leeds united, I will see us win trophies in my lifetime. I then attempted to answer his question but because it kept going deeper, I could not give him the simple yes or no answer that he was looking for let alone answer him at all because of all the variables! We will take it then for the sake of this article then I will take it that promotion is a given, even though I realise there is a very long way to go.
The first way of addressing this is to say that with our current squad, no I don’t think we could finish in the top 10 in the Championship. We probably have a below average Championship team at the moment at best. In relation to the Championship we have a good central defence and relatively good midfield but especially if Beckford goes in the meantime we require at least 5 signings to both strengthen the first team and start strengthening our depth to a quality Championship standard. If this season is anything to go by then the division will be a very competitive one, even more so than this division. There are at least 15 teams who would set their sights realistically at promotion this season and many teams will be looking to slip into the dreaded playoffs. If getting out of this division has been tough then next season would be much tougher so we are going to need to spend to do that.
That brings us onto the next part of whether Ken Bates would be willing to give Grayson money to spend or not. LLHB have recently addressed this issue but completely by surprise they have gone against Bates on this one! I am not here to fight his side as I am an intense Bates disliker after the Thorpe Arch fiasco but I am not going to completely rule out him opening his cheque book either, as ludicrous as it sounds! Bates has claimed the last couple of transfer window openings that the money has been there although under Grayson that has yet to be proved or disproved. That’s why I can only come to the conclusion that it is impossible to say until we actually do get promoted and we see how Grayson fills the obvious gaps in our side if its with money or with more free transfers. Don’t get me wrong, we have done some fabulous deals over the last 12 months. Deals which have put us in the position we are in the league table at the moment but you have to imagine that getting the type of players needed to challenge for the Championship next season is going to cost us a couple of million.
One of the main things that would involve us putting in a challenge though is for a couple of big things to stay the same. The first and main thing in my opinion must be to keep Elland Road a fortress. Over a year now since we have lost at home in the league and that’s some record. Teams like Burnley and Stoke have shown how a important a good home record is in doing well in a league as have Cardiff and Newcastle and ourselves. That is going to have to remain if we are to do well next season as teams need to remain fearful coming to Elland Road. Likewise the fans need to continue to come in their huge numbers despite a recession and ridiculous ticket prices although to be honest I have no doubt about that one. Basically what it means is just to have more of the same next season when the standard is considerably higher.
So going back and trying to answer the original question to my scum friend I have not come much closer to finding an answer. Basically little could be said because there are so many variables but one worrying factor is the amount of things that are in the hands of Ken Bates in this. Such a thing is a scary thing to say but the fact of the matter is that the manager has stepped up, the players have stepped up and now its time for our very dodgy Chairman to step up and take us to the next level. We hopefully have mastered getting out of this league, something Grayson must have down to a fine art at this stage, but come August its going to be a completely different kettle of fish where different things are going to be involved. Its all about ambition and it really is time for our chairman and manager to prove that they have it!
