Limbo is possibly the best way to describe Leeds United’s current situation. Although you could say this feeling of stasis has hung over the club since 49ers Enterprises took its shareholding to within a touching distance of 51-per-cent control.
The elephant in every room discussing the Whites has been the American investment waiting to swoop and reset the table at Elland Road. It’s always been a question of when, and not if, Andrea Radrizzani hands over the keys to Paraag Marathe et al.
Now, as with 12 months ago, divisional status makes it that much harder for anyone inside the club, from the top to the bottom, to plan with any certainty how the next phase of the organisation looks. There are only 10 more days of a purgatory which has hung over the club since the World Cup ended that spell of two wins in 11 everyone grew worried about.
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A potentially transformative summer awaits the club and while there are dozens of decisions which need to be made, they just can’t make them until they know which division they are going to be in.
Ownership
The big one. It’s as simple as staying up and the 49ers come in or go down and face further uncertainty. If Leeds had plodded through a mundane, mid-table campaign there’s every chance a visible framework would already be in place for the transition of power.
As it is, the powers that be are sitting around their various boardrooms wondering where this might go next month. Given all decisions start at the top, the uncertainty around next month’s majority shareholder, never mind next year’s, stops a lot of matters in their tracks.
Victor Orta’s replacement
The director of football parted ways with United earlier this month and left a massive hole in the day-to-day running of matters at Elland Road. Chief executive Angus Kinnear is picking up the slack, collaborating with scouts for example, but candidates to replace Orta will surely be impacted by league status.
Beyond that, conversations around whether the club even wants to continue with a sporting director model may yet dictate who occupies Orta’s office next season.
Head coach
Sam Allardyce holds the post, but his four-game contract sums up the doubts Leeds have around their future and what they may need from August. Kinnear will have shortlists of prospective options in the top flight or Championship, but it’s an appointment for a director of football to lead on and, right now, Leeds don’t have one of those either.
Contracts
Perhaps more than any other position in the club, the players and their prospects are massively impacted by the division Leeds are in. Robin Koch stands as out as the current player which ticks most boxes for a new contract, but there’s little prospect of that happening with second-tier football a possibility.
Like Koch, Luke Ayling, Liam Cooper, Rodrigo and Stuart Dallas are senior names approaching the final 12 months of their Elland Road terms. While Cooper, Ayling and Dallas, who has not played for 13 months, seem unlikely to baulk at Championship football, Rodrigo may.
The 32-year-old is finishing off his best season in Leeds colours and retains Spain aspirations which are unlikely to be fulfilled in England’s second tier. Adam Forshaw and Joel Robles, currently important starters, will watch their deals expire next month unless clarity on next season’s division prompts fresh terms.
Ins and outs
Tied into the aforementioned contract dilemmas, are outright transfers. There are a legion of players who would be allowed to leave for the right price if the club were relegated, but right now those kinds of decisions cannot be made.
On transfers for next season: how can those calls be made when the club does not know which division they are going to be in? While players can be signed without a sporting director of some kind, Leeds may prefer to have that role filled before chasing targets for the new campaign.
It’s impossible to even draw up what next season’s strongest XI could look like, or where the weaknesses are in the side which need strengthening. Of course, shortlists for top-flight or Championship futures can be drawn up, but decisions cannot be finalised.
Elland Road’s redevelopment
It’s abundantly clear relegation would surely postpone any meaningful redevelopment of the stadium. While demand for tickets is unlikely to immediately drain away in the Championship, the cost and upheaval of structural changes make little sense without the financial safety net of the top flight.
Every available pound would likely be pumped into a first-team squad which would need to return the club to the Premier League as quickly as possible.
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