Welcome to the daily Leeds United comment column, today the number of “dead wood” footballers causes irritation.
So are we back on track (god that is such a horrible expression) or was last night just the minimum we should be doing to keep ourselves in the race? It certainly must increase the confidence a little but the fact remains we are only 11 points ahead of 7th and 4 points of 3rd. The Charlton defeat by Brighton has given us a little breathing space to the extent that anything we get out of Huddersfield Town on Saturday should be considered a bonus and fillip. Given that we follow that game with 2 sides we would have turned over with ease before Xmas the opportunity to recover the points lost from our 3 home games has to be taken.
Confidence is a funny thing in football and particularly in fans, sometimes you feel no confidence we will get that top 2 spot, other times you make the mistake of looking ahead to the CCC. I made that mistake recently and it depressed the life out of me, the reason? I had a look at the contract situation and realised how many of our deadwood might still be with us next season. The two stand out examples are Robinson and Kandol, both have another season on wages they have no chance of getting elsewhere but there are others in the same boat, Sheehan, Michalik (ok I think he is better than L1 but on his erratic form..) and Elliot. Now this wouldn’t be a disaster if we had a squad that was going to be stable for a few seasons or was full of developing talent, the truth is we have neither yet and those deadwood players become a bigger issue the more you examine things.
Starting with those we know are unlikely to be here next season because their contract is up (all contract lengths are from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leeds_United_A.F.C._season_2009%E2%80%9310#Squad_information so if you feel the need to argue a point please provide evidence of a longer contract), Beckford (greedy Bosman), Hughes (age), Marques (age and lack of use) and much to my surprise Ankergran (not offered extension for some reason despite Higgs getting one quickly after joining). We should also assume, regardless of CCC football or not, that Doyle, Lowry and McSheffrey won’t be signed up, the latter would have to up his game considerably to justify the money he will want and the first one of those is so erratic it beggars belief we would want him in a higher league. Somma, Martin D and Hatfield will have to be showing something in training to get contract extensions although given the latter was on the bench against Spurs it’s possible to assume he is.
Then we have to consider the players who have time left on their contract but whom it would be risky to have as mainstays of a CCC side. Naylor is a prime example but at least he has played regularly at that level, that is not true of Higgs, Kisnorbo, Crowe, Johnson or Gradel (who is already in my book a “bit” player). Even the better quality of Howson, Snodgrass, Parker, Kilkenny and Becchio would need to adapt quickly to an improved level of football that comes with the CCC, not easy when adapting to new players around you as well (and assuming we don’t get bids for a couple of them from higher up the food chain). All this shows is how extensive the overhaul of the squad might need to be come June and that brings us back to the deadwood.
If the wages at Elland Road compensate for the lack of first team football then what to do with the likes of Robinson, Kandol and Sheehan? There is the expensive way, pay them off, it has the advantage of freeing up space in the squad but would be setting a precedent for any others looking for a cash in. Maybe on this one occasion we could put the needs of the squad first and get those 3 out the door regardless of the price? I would also make it clear to Higgs and Crowe they might want to consider going out on loan next season as the chances of them being first choice are remote (this means we need two new keepers and two new RB’s but we would need the competition either way). Hopefully Michalik has such a good World Cup some decent European team comes in with an offer we can’t reject.
With potentially half our squad likely to be gone over the summer (and only a couple of those worthy of keeping) you could be forgiven for wondering how I jumped over the part about getting promoted first but that is for another day. The next transfer window is going to be pivotal to the next few seasons and that is why it needs a little thought now. Some of you are placing all your bets on Bates opening his wallet in the event of promotion, I only see a collection of cheap and cheerful old pro’s being signed up but either way so long as the deadwood has gone the chances are we will be slightly better off regardless. Meanwhile if the some of those to go play a part in achieving that vital promotion, well good, that is what we pay them for!
