Leeds United - seasons thoughts

The seasons over, and on reflection, I’m sure most Leeds fans would say ‘thank god for that’ (or words to that effect!).  It really was a horrible campaign, with very few highs, but plenty of lows.

Pre season, there was an air of optimism.  After finishing 7^th last time out and just missing the play offs, there was a real feeling that we could go one, if not more steps better.  The loss of Max Gradel, last year’s star man at the start was a hammer blow, and one from which we never really recovered.  Despite Simon Grayson flirting with the play off places, we never really played well.  Never got going and turned teams over.  There were decent performances, and the early form of Ross McCormack was one of the highlights.  Pre season signings flattered to deceive – goalkeeper Andy Lonergan started brightly, but faded somewhat, Michael Brown struggled to hold down a place and Darren O Dea was inconsistent.  Adam Clayton found himself back in favour, and started on fire, before slipping into mediocracy as the year went on.

Established players also struggled – Paddy Kisnorbo wasn’t the player he was, Becchio was injured pre season, and never really got going, while Andy O Brien had all sorts of problems.

There were a few brighter notes though – McCormack as mentioned did better than his debut season, Tom Lees established himself in the team, whilst Aidy White broke through and got a run of games. 

The team still lacked direction though, and January saw the sale of local boy Jonny Howson.  It came as no huge surprise, Howson is a quality player, but never stamped his authority on games – something Leeds desperately needed. 

The other big change was also no surprise – Grayson given the boot, and Neil Warnock came in.  The new man took one look at the squad, and realised what we had known for a long time – major surgery was needed.  The season meandered to the end,  and it’s going to be a huge off season.  Warnock has already made his intentions clear with a mass clear out planned – several players released, with many others up for sale.  Warnock already has made his move in the transfer market, signing Portsmouth defender Jason Pearce – expected to be just one of a huge number of new players lining up next year.