Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
As calm as ever, Mr Leeds says patience is key GRAY TELLS WORRIED FANS THEY MUST KEEP THE FAITH
were relegated under Gray in 2004 during his second spell in charge that they would still be out of the top flight 16 years later.
“T h e football is no team has a divine right,” added
Gray, who won six major honours with Leeds during
Don Revie’s golden era.
“No matter how big a support you have, how big a city you’re in or the club’s history, you’ve got to make it happen.
There have thing about been glimpses that it might happen, but they’ve failed at the last hurdle. Hopefully this season will be the season.”
The stakes are high and failure to win promotion could see Bielsa leave, while Gray fe el s th e coveted Kalvin Phillips would be odds-on to go as well. Leeds rejected bids of nearly £30million for Phillips last summer and Gray said: “At the end of last season, it looked like Kalvin might move on. “He decided to hang around and no doubt this season if we don’t go up, it is very difficult to visualise Kalvin staying because he’s got talent and will want to play at the highest level.”
Bielsa’s faith in erratic striker Patrick Bamford and his devotion to possession football are being questioned by some fans, who feel he should be more flexible.
Gray, 72, was more pragmatic as a coach, but feels the Argentinian will never change his style.
“I’m a great believer in football, I’m not a great believer in stats or possession of the ball,” he said.
“You can have as much possession as you want, but you’ve got to turn it into goals.
“I don’t think Marcelo will change. This is his way of playing football and people have to respect that.
“He’s very much his own man. I don’t think many people get to know him. I don’t really know the man. I’ve never really spoken to him, I’ve just said hello.
“It’s worked for most of the season and hopefully it will come right. We’ve got to believe it will.”