The 2021/22 season is one that plenty of Leeds United supporters will be keen to put behind them. It was one that was dramatically saved at the eleventh hour after it threatened to bring an end to the club’s brief return to the Premier League.
The optimism for next season has well and truly begun to build at Elland Road following the arrivals of both Brenden Aaronson and Rasmus Kristensen. Further investment into the playing staff is expected over the next few months as Jesse Marsch continues to put his stamp on the squad he inherited from Marcelo Bielsa.
We sent a survey out to the Leeds supporters with plenty of questions ranging from last season’s performance all the way to the club’s youth development plans. Below is a comprehensive round-up of the responses of the 1,832 fans who got involved.
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2021/22 season assessment
Starting with the recently-finished season, there are a number of differing opinions within the fanbase about what almost led to disaster. The first question read ‘How would you rate Leeds’ season as whole?’ with good, average, poor and terrible being the available responses. The pie chart below indicates the overwhelming assessment.
More than half of those who responded to the survey (52.8%) believe the board were to blame for the failures of the campaign with Marcelo Bielsa also getting plenty of blame (21.2%). The players caught some slack from the fans with only 5.1% thinking it was solely their fault. Although, 20.8% believed each of three were the reason for the struggles in equal measure.
Perhaps the best explanation for why the players didn’t come in for much blame from their adoring supporters was because of all the injury problems throughout the season. 52.7% of fans put the struggles of the campaign down to those absences when asked ‘What was the biggest factor in Leeds’ struggles this season? A lack of pre-season investment (27.2%) and Bielsa’s tactics being found out (15%) also being blamed fairly heavily.
42.8% feel optimistic that Leeds will be able to avoid another relegation battle next term while 12.7% fear a repeat of this season could be on the horizon in 11 months’ time. The other 44.4% opted against making a prediction with plenty of mitigating factors still to be decided between now and the start of the season.
Managers
At the time, plenty of Leeds fans were exasperated at the club’s decision to sack Bielsa at such a pivotal stage of the season. Although, it seems that, as time has gone on, they have started to understand why the choice had to be made.
Just over two thirds (66.9%) of fans in our survey believed the Whites were right to sack the Argentine when they did with the rest (33.1%) still feeling it wasn’t quite the correct judgement. When asked whether they think Marsch is the right man to take the club forward on the pitch, there were very similar splits in the fanbase. 68% believe that the American was the right appointment while 32% would have opted for a different manager.
Transfer window
It feels like a huge transfer window for Leeds if they want to ensure they are nowhere near the relegation zone next season. As mentioned previously, Aaronson and Kristensen have already been brought to the club but more investment is likely to follow.
Only 0.6% of fans claimed that they weren’t satisfied with the signing of Aaronson with 70.6% claiming they are either pleased or delighted with his arrival. We then asked supporters which area of the team should be strengthened next and the below chart shows the response.
98.2% of the fans who responded believe that in excess of £50m should be spent on more new recruits. 79.3% want to see between £50m and £125m invested into the playing squad this summer with 18.9% hoping even more than that will be spent by Andrea Radrizzani and co.
The vast majority (82.31%) feel that four or more players should be added to the arrivals of Aaronson and Kristensen with many of those likely to be expecting Raphinha and/or Kalvin Phillips to leave at some stage during the transfer window.
Off-the-field matters
When there looked to be a real possibility of Leeds dropping into the Championship, fans inside Elland Road made their feelings towards the club’s board known. After the dust has settled on the season, only 15.7% of the surveyed fans revealed that they are not very happy with the current ownership and board.
Meanwhile, more than half 55.4% didn’t give an opinion and 28.9% claimed they are very happy with those in charge. Although, just 15.4% of fans said they wouldn’t welcome a full takeover of Leeds by the 49ers franchise who currently hold a substantial stake in the club. 35.5% claimed they want to see the franchise running the NFL team take total control of the Whites.
With Premier League status secure, an overwhelming 77.1% of fans felt that Leeds should kick on with starting the developments of Elland Road that have been mentioned a number of times. That desire to modernise and expand the stadium will have come after tickets were like gold dust for each of the Premier league fixtures hosted in West Yorkshire during the season.
Pricing
On the topic of tickets, here is how the surveyed supporters feel about the pricing of tickets at Elland Road.
There are similar thoughts on the prices of memberships, although a larger percentage of fans find them to be too expensive. 19.4% said they were unhappy with those prices while 21.4% had no qualms over the cost.
Youth development
One of the rare silver linings of the season gone by was the first-team exposure that plenty of Leeds’ best young players gained. The injuries that blighted the campaign handed plenty of opportunities to the youngsters in the U23s squad and Joe Gelhardt, in particular, hasn’t looked back since.
When asked ‘Which youngster will have the biggest impact next season?’, 65.8% of fans believed Joffy will be the man to continue his upwards trajectory. Cody Drameh (10%), Sam Greenwood (9%), Charlie Cresswell (6.3%), Crysencio Summerville (5.4%) and Lewis Bate (3.5%) were among the others tipped to make an impact next term.
While there have been questions asked about Victor Orta’s position as the director of football at Leeds, his effort to strengthen the development squads has been excellent. 79.3% of fans feel very happy with the work being done to improve the academy at Thorp Arch.
Next season
Finally, the last stage of the survey looked ahead to next season and asked supporters which part of the table Marsch’s side will finish. The overwhelming majority (77.8%) expect a return to the fortunes of the 2020/21 campaign by answering with a mid-table response. 21.4% think another relegation battle may ensue with a rather pessimistic 0.8% believing relegation beckons.
Those fans remain unsure of what the kits will look like at the start of the season as the club nor Adidas have released any information. Although, they made their thoughts known regarding the away kit with 64.6% of responses hoping to see a yellow option for away matches after this season’s iteration didn’t go down particularly well with fans.
If you didn’t get chance to fill out the survey, what do you think to some of the questions that were asked? Let us know in the comments below.
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