Legends tipping Bielsa to bring back glory days at Elland Road
THEY say absence makes the heart grow fonder and in the case of Leeds United that is certainly true.
They have not been in English football’s top division since suffering relegation in May 2004.
Then followed a well-documented financial meltdown – a legacy of gross overspending under Peter Ridsdale’s stewardship – and the intervening years have not been kind to them.
There were three miserable years in League One and a succession of owners who have failed to properly fund a serious push for a return to the promised land.
Yet despite everything, desire still pulses around Elland Road ahead of the new Championship season.
A raucous fanbase will march to next Sunday’s Championship opener at home to Stoke with the usual new-season optimism.
And on Thursday morning, three of the most iconic figures in the club’s history were reunited outside the famous old stadium in a new boss Marcelo Bielsa, the legendary Argentine, but the jury remains out on Italian owner Andrea Radrizzani.
Signings have been thin on the ground so far as an £11million pursuit of Derby striker Matej Vydra drags on but Barry Douglas did join the club from Wolves yesterday.
Hunter was known as ‘Bite Yer Legs’ for his uncompromising style in the famous Leeds team under Revie in the late Sixties and early Seventies.
And the former England international has called for calm as fans wait to see who will be next new face through the door.
He said: “We all know signings are needed – that’s not rocket science – but I’m sure everyone is working their backside off to get that.
“I’m a supporter like everyone else and am maybe a little bit disappointed we haven’t signed more players just yet.
“However, Bielsa has an incredible pedigree and for Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino