Simon Grayson is of the view that the March international break derailed Leeds United’s season and ruined their march to automatic promotion.
Leeds looked ready to finish in the top two and earn automatic promotion to the Premier League when teams went into the international break in March.
However, the Whites won two of their eight Championship games after the break and only managed to finish third while Leicester City and Ipswich Town won automatic promotion.
Grayson insisted that the international break affected Leeds by breaking the momentum they were building just ahead of that period.
He conceded that Leeds never got going after the break while Leicester and Ipswich used the break to rekindle their form and sort out the issues in their team.
The former Whites boss said on BBC Radio Leeds: “The international break can sometimes benefit you and sometimes it can rock you.
“And it rocked Leeds.
“If Leeds were playing Saturday-Tuesday from then until the end of the season, they would not have been bothered because they were winning games, playing with a swagger and arrogance.
“It was a stop-start; so many players went away and a few picked up injuries at that particular time and it was hard to pick it up again.
“It benefits you sometimes like some other teams probably needed the break, they re-galvanised and got the training pitch to work.”
Leeds now have a two-legged playoff semi-final lined up against Norwich City with the first leg set to take place at Carrow Road on Sunday.
