The #LUFC Breakfast Debate (Thursday 9th May) Norwich told to be brave against 'flaky' Leeds
Good Morning. It's Thursday 9th May, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road...
Norwich told to be brave against 'flaky' Leeds
Former Norwich City and England Striker Chris Sutton doesn't see a reason why his former club can't reach the play-off final at the expense of Leeds Utd. The 51 year old forward started his career at Carrow Road, and went on to make 102 appearances for the East Anglian outfit. He believes that due to a loss of form, Leeds are vulnerable, and if the Canaries are brave, there is no reason why they can't upset the odds, and book a Wembley showdown with either Southampton or West Brom.
Leeds will try to be expansive, but Norwich needs to be brave and try to exploit them. We cannot have two legs of the same approach deployed away at Leicester. This isn't a time to shirk; it's about stepping up and being brave. Everyone knows what is at stake - go and play.
There is a greater pressure on Leeds. I used to love playing at Elland Road because of its atmosphere, but that can have a detrimental effect on players because they will be nervous after what's happened at the back end of this season. If Norwich can take a lead into the second leg, I think the Leeds fanbase could turn and be edgy. If I was in the dressing room as a City player, I'd be really fancying this one. What an opportunity.
It's an added opportunity that it's Daniel Farke. Yes, he's well-liked and respected in Norfolk, but you still want to put him away - especially after two defeats in the regular campaign. Leeds have a vulnerability. Norwich can go into it knowing this is a team that has been flaky and they have to prey on that. They got walloped by QPR, Middlesbrough put three past them Blackburn nicked a win at Elland Road, Coventry beat them, Sunderland got a point against them.
Why can't Norwich? That is what they should be saying: 'Why not us? Why not now?'. Farke will be really concerned about their drop off in performances. I'm not sure it's going to be that easy to lift them back up. If you're a Leeds player, you're not going into this game with a spring in your step.
When the going has got tough and competitive at the end of the season, they've fallen away and lost their nerve a bit. That is something that Norwich should be trying to use to their benefit in the play-offs. I even think that Leeds beating Norwich twice this season may not be a bad thing. If I were a player in that dressing room, I'd be thinking that it's about time we beat them'. They are capable of doing so.
What next season in the Championship would look like for Leeds
Leeds will need to cut their cloth accordingly next season if they fail to win the play-offs, according to Elland Road journalist Phil Hay. Although not in a position of promotion or bust just yet, they will need to sell some of their better players to balance the books, and stay the right side of Financial Fair Play! Leeds have never been good at negotiations, and for every Kalvin Phillips, there's several Helder Costa's or Jean-Kevin Augustine's!
Last Summer's deserters get to run down another year of their contracts, most of whom we (Leeds) do not receive a single penny for, in way of a loan fee, and with para-shoot payments dropping from £44m to £35m, the club will have no option but to part with their Crown Jewells! By selling Crysencio Summerville, the club can expect to recoup in the region of £40m, and £25m for Wilfred Gnonto. They will do everything in their power to keep hold of Archie Gray, though an offer between £35m-£40m could prove too tempting to turn down!
The 49ers did not categorise their first year of ownership at Leeds as promotion or bust. They were rational about the possibility of having to play a longer game and, in private, they speak about potentially controlling the club for a decade or more. But there is no disputing that failure to win these play-offs would bring on some hard decisions.
The club have had one of the biggest playing budgets in the Championship this season, a legacy of the Premier League wage bill they were relegated with last May, the first injection of Premier League parachute payments and the 49ers’ willingness to spend in the transfer market.
Year two back in the Championship would alter the landscape. The standard annual parachute payment for a club’s second year after relegation drops from around £44million to £35m. Leeds’ ‘acceptable loss’ limit under PSR would change from £83m to £61m over a three-year cycle, on the basis that permitted annual losses are lower in the EFL. Wiggle-room becomes considerably smaller.
Some players might actively ask to move on if Leeds aren’t promoted. Some, like the Championship’s player of the year Crysencio Summerville, offer a route to big fees and substantial amounts of profit, a key factor in balancing the books in line with PSR limits. Archie Gray, the 18-year-old midfielder, is Leeds’ most valuable asset but there is no public-relations upside in listening to offers for the best academy graduate they have produced in years. Gray, in any case, has only recently signed a new contract to 2028.
