da dobrowin： This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…
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Whilst excitement surrounding the 100th-anniversary celebrations reverberated around the club, there was one bit of news that has dwarfed the whole affair.
Leeds United CEO Angus Kinnear has announced that plans are in place to expand Elland Road into a 50,000 capacity stadium, on the condition that the club are promoted to the Premier League.
As we touched on yesterday when talking about the fans reaction to the news, this kind of promise, especially with the caveat that it is top-flight dependant is just going to pile the pressure onto the shoulders of Marcelo Bielsa and the players.
They essentially hold the future of the club in their hands, certainly short term.
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If you take a look at clubs in the past and how they have managed to transform themselves on the back of bigger stadiums, it’s proven to be game-changing. Brighton and Hove Albion moved from the Withdean to the Amex and cracked the top flight after 34 years away.
Swansea City went from the Vetch Field to the Liberty Stadium where they were valued at £1 before having seven seasons in the top division. The most remarkable of all was Leicester City going from Filbert Street to the King Power Stadium and winning the Premier League, the list goes on.
The steps that those clubs have taken are exactly the kind of things that could be awaiting Leeds, but it all rides on them getting promotion to the Premier League.
In defence of Kinnear, at least he’s doing this by expanding the current stadium rather than moving the club to a new one, but the point about capacity remains the same.
As Danny Mills said the other day, this season is very much Premier League or bust for the Whites. Not just because of what it could mean in the summer of 2020 when they can try to buy many of the loan players that may have got them promoted, but because of the ramifications for the next couple of years as well.
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With the number of loan players that are currently making up the squad, six in total, and Leeds not exactly in the best of positions financially, they are hanging by a thread under the current ownership.
They simply can’t afford to spend vast sums on players that will make a difference and they are running out of time if they want to do so with their current crop.
There’s a famous song that opposing fans like to use to mock those at Elland Road; ‘Leeds, Leeds are falling apart, again’, used to mock the fact that the west Yorkshire side have never been able to get back to the Premier League after 15+ years of waiting and coming so close in the process.
With Kinnear making a promise like this, it is now up to the players and manager to deliver, or fans could have to put up with hearing that song for many years to come.