Delivering Leeds dream so tough
IT’S been an intoxicating birthday week for Leeds United – topped by the tantalising promise that they could soon be “competing with Manchester City”.
The club’s 100th anniversary celebrations have seen optimistic and ambitious plans, including expanding (and hopefully modernising) Elland Road from 38,000 to 50,000.
Club legends have been serenaded, a plaque unveiled at
Salem Chapel, the birthplace of the club, and a mood of
“marching on together” captured.
But ‘marching on’ doesn’t do justice to the ambition expressed by owner Andrea Radrizzani, who claims that an injection of cash from Qatar Sports Investments, run by Nasser al-khelaifi, his friend, could make
Leeds contenders at the top again.
Bold is one word to describe the boast. Leeds haven’t been in the top flight since being relegated in 2004.
They’re currently in a promotion battle in the Championship where three points separated the top nine sides after 11 games, in a league that is one of the toughest, most brutally competitive, in the world.
Watching United’s own version of a Pep Guardiola or a Sergio Aguero seems a long way off when you are staring at Marcello Bielsa, partially obscured by a girder at Elland Road, sitting on a plastic bucket.
But Radrizzani is right to have dreams of relaunching Leeds. A chairman, or owner, who isn’t a dreamer shouldn’t be in the job.
Making the promise is the easy bit. Delivering the first step, rising above the intense flak of the Championship, will be the hardest, and one that Bielsa must deliver THIS season.
Leeds are a club who should be in the top flight.
They have stature, a mighty fan base, fairly recent Champions League history, and are a regional capital away from football.
But Manchester City won’t be getting too worried just yet.