by Right in the Gary Kelly's
Leeds need to look to the future - and not delay..
Is it the time to play safe – and wait? Or the time to strike while the iron’s hot? What do you think!
Neil Warnock today urged GFH Capital not to act rashly, that he believes ideally he ought to stay until the end of the current term. This was in the wake of our `near fatal’ blow to securing a play off place, with Huddersfield’s last minute winner at Elland road. But as Eddie Gray puts it, all too succinctly in todays YEP, there is no escaping quite how poor we have been in our last 2 homes games, an area we had hoped to have some kind of reliability in, n terms of our results.
Those of us unfortunate enough to watch the debacle against Peterborough will have seen the Huddersfield result a mile off. A side probably undeserving of their bottom half status, admittedly, Huddersfield did a job on Leeds. They exposed our lack of pace at front and back, and lack of a match winner.
Neil Warnock has had a job on his hands since Ken Bates disappeared from the lobby of the Cafe de Paris in Monaco leaving him to pick up the bill.. (I jest) But in all seriousness though he has not had the best hand dealt him, (or certainly not what he expected). Can he be totally blameless? Of course not.
Managers such as Ian Holloway, Owen Coyle, and to an extent Billy Davies have made more out of their squads than we have – and of the loan market. For Warnock to claim the players aren’t out there seems unbelievable. What we wouldn’t have given for a player Like Peterborough’s Dwight Gayle (surely available in January for the right price) or dare I say James Vaughan? The list of players deemed not good enough is nearly as long as the list of players not given a chance under Warnock.. Step forward Robbie Rogers, Ramon Nunez, Ryan Hall, and of course Habibou, the latter two only really coming into contention when no one else was available.
Leeds didn’t HAVE to spend big to get the players they wanted, but fees were spent, on Kenny, Peltier, Varney, Norris, Hall.. Those were Warnock decisions so its wrong for him to bemoan his situation entirely.
Leeds do still mathematically have a shot at promotion, but in practice this is unrealistic, and for once as a club and fans we collectively need to get our head out of the clouds and start planning for next season.
I do agree that in the clique of decision makers at Elland road Neil Warnock is probably the most knowledgeable in terms of football, probably moreso that Bates ‘Guru’ Gwyn Williams.
So he should be listened to, and he’s right no decision should be rushed. For me though securing someone like Brian McDermott, Nigel Adkins or even if we are insane enough, Di Canio should not be delayed too much longer.
Leeds need to get a budget in place, get the package right and approach these guys now because if we dont – someone else will. The days of Bates & Harvey dithering over transfer targets, investment or anything else critical need to be put to bed.
Reality has bitten, and we need to move on.
Give Richard Naylor and Neil Redfearn more cash, get either or both of them working closer to this new man too, so they can feed through the talent on the conveyor belt – Dawson, Mowatt, Poleon, Lenighan.. there is much to be done, delaying, and considering are one thing, but surely we’ve now had over 12 months of this situation and the time has already been taken… make that decision.
What would be truly sad would be the lost opportunity, Leeds have new owners, a gradually re-energising fanbase, and a crop of highly talented youngsters waiting in the wings. The time to strike is surely now.. don’t be rash, but dont be too slow either.
Reporter – Matthew Brown-Bolton
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