On 23/02/2011 14:04, Matt Anderson wrote:
Bates arguments aside should we be spending £10m on players to go up?
I raised this issue after the Norwich match. Like Norwich we are described as "building" a team.
I'd like to think that we were and that the game plan was to have that team constructed, if not over one season definitely over two seasons, in order to be promoted and then retain Premiership status with the correct buying policy on achieving that status.
Howard Wilkinson was in a different footballing world when he took Leeds out of the second division in 1990 but his buying strategy was astute. He had the correct players to take us out of division 2 and then supplanted some of them with the necessary players for the first division.
Grayson appears not to have the luxury of Wilkinson's signings of 1989/90 and I doubt that he has the same single mindedness to instil the discipline in his team that Wilko hammered home. Compare the promotion chasing club of 1989/90 with the current set-up. I'm afraid it doesn't look good.
Having said that, if we repeated our 1990 form in the run in to the end of this season we would end up with about 75 points and with only eight points separating the 7 teams below runaway leaders QPR we could just be in with a shout for automatic promotion but more likely the play-offs beckon.
How many matches of the remaining 13 can we honestly expect to take maximum points from? And does Grayson have the strength of character to lead the team on to taking those points?
With QPR Swansea, Forest and Watford all still to come, forgive me if I am sceptical. Win those four games and I'd say we are capable of the second promotion spot. The problem is we are also quite capable of dropping points big style against the likes of Burnley, Millwall and Ipswich.
There are too many imponderables about the current team and because of that it would take a very brave person to feel confident about anything other than the play-offs.
And yes it isn't wrong to say that some of the blame must lie at the door of Kenneth William Bates who appears not to share the ambitions of his club's supporters for Premiership football - typified by the knowledge that the club has had a purple patch in terms of revenues in recent years but not in terms of squad improvement.
There are a few players in the team who might be capable of holding their own at the higher level - Schmiechel for example) but would another season in the Championship only see those players leaving for pastures greener?
It's a very frustrating time to be a Leeds United fan but then isn't it always?
Betty _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected] MARCHING ON TOGETHER
