Just nine members of Leeds United’s unforgettable 2020 Championship-winning squad remain in Jesse Marsch’s core unit at Elland Road. All clubs go through transition, but it’s especially hard for those on the terraces watching a squad which was so successful go its separate ways.
Stuart Dallas, Luke Ayling, Liam Cooper and Adam Forshaw have spent part if not all of this pre-season on the sidelines too, while Mateusz Klich’s future is also far from certain. That leaves Jack Harrison, Patrick Bamford, Illan Meslier and Pascal Struijk from the 2020 group, but even the latter was hardly a regular the year Marcelo Bielsa’s side lifted the trophy.
That emotional connection between supporters and players is always going to be tied to shared experiences. Whether it be enduring the same pain of that Derby County defeat in May 2019, the euphoria of Emile Smith Rowe’s 2020 winner, the ecstasy at- the Etihad Stadium or the final-day relief at Brentford, this is what takes players into fans’ hearts.
