After the heartbreak of relegation from the Premier League last season, Leeds United is desperately seeking a return to the head table of English football at the first time of asking.
One of the big names in English football, Leeds spent 16 years outside the top flight after their last relegation from the Premier League and is now tasked with making sure their exodus this time around is short-lived.
Whites Paid The Price For Lessons Not Learned
Having only just avoided the drop on the final day of the 2021/22 Premier League season, the lessons were clearly not learned by Leeds last term.
Defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on the final day this time around saw the Whites condemned to life in the second tier next season.
Leeds are one of the favorites for the Championship title, and at the odds Betway is offering are +700 to lift the trophy next summer.
Relegation came in the midst of a big change for Leeds, with owner Andrea Radrizzani confirming the sale of his shares to the incoming 49ers Enterprise.
While there is hope about what can be achieved next season, the dust is still settling on what went wrong in the last year.
Leeds had a big summer of recruitment but it came on the back of the club losing two of their star players. England midfielder Kalvin Phillips made the switch to Manchester City and it certainly worked out for the Leeds academy product, who went on to win a famous treble with the Citizens.
ESPN also confirmed Brazil international Raphinha moved on to pastures new, as the winger made the move to his dream club in Barcelona.
Leeds were rewarded handsomely for both players and that money was invested in bringing a number of new faces to the club. However, none were of the quality of Phillips and Raphinha, which was part of the downfall of Leeds last season.
Bielsa Departure Sparked Leeds’ Downfall
The sacking of iconic manager Marcelo Bielsa, who we rated as one of the best in a previous article on the Top Soccer Blog, in February 2022 signaled the downturn in fortunes for the West Yorkshire outfit.
Then director of football Victor Orta had highlighted Jesse Marsch as the ideal replacement for Bielsa and the American coach did manage to keep Leeds up thanks to a 2-1 win at Brentford on the final day of the 2021/22 Premier League season.
The early signs for last season were promising, with Leeds picking up early wins over both Wolverhampton Wanderers and Chelsea.
However, fans and pundits quickly realized that Marsch’s brand of football wasn’t going to work at Elland Road. Leeds’ hierarchy was all too slow to make the change in the dugout.
Javi Gracia’s time at Leeds came and went, leaving former England boss Sam Allardyce with just four games to save the club from the dop. An experienced manager in a relegation dogfight, this time Allardyce could not weave his magic at Elland Road, and relegation was confirmed on the final day against Spurs, as was reported by the BBC.
With three managers coming and going since Bielsa’s departure, it became clear it was the Argentinian who had been the man driving success at Leeds.
Bielsa took a mid-table Championship side and lead them to the second-tier title before finishing ninth in their first season back in the Premier League.
Oh, what Leeds might give to have given Bielsa more time to turn things around at Elland Road and have back some of the former iconic Whites players, as we’ve highlighted by Top Soccer Blog.
Focus On Bouncing Back
Leeds can’t afford another spell out in the football wilderness and will be doing all they can to get back to the Premier League as swiftly as possible. There will be plenty of comings and goings in the playing squad over the summer, as Leeds looks to build a squad ready to compete for promotion next season.
The takeover at Elland Road should give the club a much-needed lift and can be a line drawn in the sand from the regime that ultimately took Leeds back down to the Championship, as we’ve listed here at Top Soccer Blog, some impressive players to feature in the division.
Promotion at the first time of asking certainly won’t be easy, in a division notorious for being one of the most competitive in Europe.
Leeds have taken a blow with relegation from the Premier League, but work is already going on behind the scenes to take this club back to the head table of the English game.
