England

Mark Bateman

With the turn of the New Year came the start of another chapter in the Leeds United saga, the fallen giants were on a six match losing streak in League One and had been dumped out of the FA Cup by Blue Square Premier side, Histon. In recent years the club has undergone regular changes at the turn of each New Year.  In 2005, Ken Bates became chairman of the club, in 2007 manager, Dennis Wise, left the club to join Newcastle United and was quickly replaced by fan favourite, Gary McAllister

So, when news broke that after less than a year in charge, Gary McAllister had been sacked and replaced by Blackpool manager, Simon Grayson, there was little surprise a new boss had arrived among the Leeds faithful, apart from perhaps the fact it was Grayson. Another young and inexperienced manager was a route Leeds had tried before, and failed with. Why should Grayson be so different?

However, since his acrimonious departure from the Championship club, Grayson, a former Leeds player who was born in the city, has guided the team to four wins and one draw in his first seven games in charge. Leeds may be beginning to find that all important ingredient for a promotion push, consistency.

The club is currently seventh in League One, just five points behind the playoff teams, with a game in hand, and with most of the teams above them still having to make the trip to Elland Road before the end of the season, fans are still confident Leeds can gain promotion.

Grayson is also confident that his team will be in the playoff mix and has not ruled out a push for the second automatic promotion place, currently occupied by Roberto Di Matteo’s impressive MK Dons.

The new boss has also shown his intentions of gaining promotion this season by signing Ipswich Town defender, Richard Naylor on a two-and-a-half year deal as well as Stoke City youngster, Carl Dickinson and Bristol City forward Lee Trundle on loan. He has also brought in USA youth international striker, Mike Grella, on an 18 month contract.

The new signings, as well as a new backroom staff of Ian Miller and Glynn Snodin, have helped Leeds reverse the terrible run of form which had crippled the club before the exit of McAllister. That run saw Leeds tumble from the automatic promotion places into mid-table and may highlight that yet another Leeds boss had lost parts of the dressing room.

The last few games of his reign also showed the limits of McAllister’s tactical ability to deal with problems that are presented to a big club, like Leeds and Leicester, in a division where, being a big club with a recent history of playing in the Premiership, you are a prized scalp.

Grayson, like McAllister, is a young boss, and some factions of the Leeds fan base held deep reservations about his appointment, seeing his arrival as a like-for-life swap.

But the passionate Leeds United fan has an excellent pedigree for someone so young, and a fierce hunger to succeed at a club he genuinely can’t believe his luck to be at. Grayson took Blackpool from languishing at the foot of League One to the Championship on a shoe string budget, he also has one thing on his CV that two of his predecessors at Elland Road have not. He has won a playoff final.

And with Leeds now most likely to gain promotion via the playoffs, Grayson has demonstrated that he has turned the club around and fans can be confident. Should the West Yorkshire side make the trip to Wembley, they can win at the home of English Football for the first time since the centenary FA Cup final, against Arsenal, in 1972.