Leeds United Have a Long Way to Go!

Article by e-Leeds Correspondent Alex Schroeter

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 will be the first to admit or even point out that our squad is not that great, with a few individuals aside. However, there have been a number of results that have left me bewildered, with the 1-5 home defeat to Bolton this weekend arguably being the worst and beg the question; can we really get promoted next season?

The answer lies with our squad and the deadwood holding us back, so who would you keep or get rid of? Here are the players I would definitely keep hold of: Kenny, Peltier, Lees, Pearce, Murphy, Austin, Wickham, Warnock, Smith, Thompson, Byram, Poleon, Ariyibi, Stewart, Butland, Dawson, Mowatt and McCormack.

However, I would get rid of: Hunt, Ashdown (Only if we can secure Butland again), Tonge, Norris, Brown and Diouf.

A considerable portion of our squad is too old or frankly not good enough to really help us in any promotion push next season. The legacy of Neil Warnock continues in the deadwood he loaded up our squad with, so to get rid of these players must be our main priority, whether we get a fee or not, in order for McDermott to bring in his players.

When you look at the amount of money spent by the teams challenging for the play-off and automatic promotion spots, it runs well into the millions. Nottingham Forest spent more, just last summer, than we have on our whole squad while QPR’s signing of Charlie Austin of £4m just about equalling the money spent on our squad. This just highlights the need and importance of Cellino’s takeover. It is pretty obvious that Cellino’s already putting money into the club, for example to cover our wage bill, and has enabled us to secure the signings of Butland and Wickham on loan. These were encouraging signings and with another reportedly on the way, we are certainly heading in the right direction.

Just as important as selling and recruiting players is the need to keep hold of our key players. Too often over the past ten years have we have seen our best players leaving, for often meagre fees, just when we are beginning to make progress. If we had managed to hold onto the likes of Howson, Gradel, Snodgrass and Becchio we would surely have been promoted by now. Once more, there were promising signs in the January transfer market when we turned down a £6m bid for McCormack.

The Championship is widely regarded as a hugely unpredictable league; however, our inconsistency is ridiculous. In a matter of weeks, we have gone from losing 6-0, to winning 5-1 then losing 5-1 to Bolton. We do not seem to have a particular style in which everyone has a role, which comes across in plenty of our performances where we look disjointed and not united.

If we are to gain promotion, then there are a lot of changes and improvements to be made, not to mention investment from Cellino. I am certain that McDermott is the right man; however, he needs the players good enough to play his passing football and become a consistently impressive side. We most certainly have a long way to go.

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