On the whole I agree with your report, but the most telling comments were the last 2 paragraphs, which to me hit the nail right on the head.
How many of these players, some of them exposed to Premier league football, will be able to cut it at this level, to help sustain our membership at the top level?

While enjoying looking at the top of the heap in the Championship…now look at the Premiership table….the teams promoted last season are not doing very well are they and face a fight to survive to preserve their status.

The dreaded description “yo-yo clubs” are looking at them right in the face…a description I am dreading that could well await Leeds if they can’t invest in top class Premiership players, obviously the club have financial limitations, so the fans are really in the hands of the management to make good decisions…well God help us with that….the many very good players that have been sold in recent years!

This is my personal opinions of players that I have question marks about their quality to sustain Leeds’ in the Premiership in the present time.
Meslier, Bogle, Firpo, Byram, Rodon, Ampadu,James,Arronson, Joseph, Piroe, Solomon,Radizini (apologies for spelling) Gnonto…I could go on, quite a list, but we are talking about the difference between Premier and Championship…just ask Leicester, Ipswich and Southampton!

NJS - it's a valid question, but I'm just going to enjoy watching us win far more than lose this season, and cross that bridge when we come to it.

comment by The Very Rev Wilko (U21072)
posted 8 minutes ago
NJS - it's a valid question, but I'm just going to enjoy watching us win far more than lose this season, and cross that bridge when we come to it.
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Can’t blame you for enjoying watching us win Your Worship, yes agree with that but some important transfer windows are on the horizon!

comment by NJS Vaguely Noble (U8272)
posted 1 hour, 11 minutes ago
On the whole I agree with your report, but the most telling comments were the last 2 paragraphs, which to me hit the nail right on the head.
How many of these players, some of them exposed to Premier league football, will be able to cut it at this level, to help sustain our membership at the top level?

While enjoying looking at the top of the heap in the Championship…now look at the Premiership table….the teams promoted last season are not doing very well are they and face a fight to survive to preserve their status.

The dreaded description “yo-yo clubs” are looking at them right in the face…a description I am dreading that could well await Leeds if they can’t invest in top class Premiership players, obviously the club have financial limitations, so the fans are really in the hands of the management to make good decisions…well God help us with that….the many very good players that have been sold in recent years!

This is my personal opinions of players that I have question marks about their quality to sustain Leeds’ in the Premiership in the present time.
Meslier, Bogle, Firpo, Byram, Rodon, Ampadu,James,Arronson, Joseph, Piroe, Solomon,Radizini (apologies for spelling) Gnonto…I could go on, quite a list, but we are talking about the difference between Premier and Championship…just ask Leicester, Ipswich and Southampton!

----------------------------------------------------------------------
We did well last time, but we had a really special manager.

This manager has failed in Prem, whilst not supported. I think our recruitment been so much better last 18 months, but it's a massive step up and I worry for what awaits us.

I think we have to get up and worry about that when we come to it, but we might well be that yo yo club for a while.

Important point made NJS.

It's going to be very interesting, as it will really test the shrewdness and strategy of the incumbent 49's.

Don't believe for one minute they want to be the proverbial 'Yoyo club' a la W.B.A of a few years back, but the current PSR rules are really going to challenge their abilities to the full.

....if we get promoted! ( but looking favourites at the moment)

They did get off to a flyer this season by raking in the dollars for Cry, Georgie and Archie and getting Ao for pennies - that's a great indicator.

comment by The Very Rev Wilko (U21072)
posted 7 minutes ago
They did get off to a flyer this season by raking in the dollars for Cry, Georgie and Archie and getting Ao for pennies - that's a great indicator.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hmm….yes were all hoping for the best and Iconcede that there was great deals done recently…but I still reserve judgement on the wisdom of the management…I remember being rushed to hospital to A&E after reading that a certain striker had been given a lucrative 5 year contract….I was given the last rites and I’m not even a catholic, Your Worship.

Its all well saying if and buts, but while Leicester ain't doing to well now, they did once go up and in their first year won the Premiership!..

No, I ain't saying anyone else will do the same, but the way things are this season, many here have said our squad is better now than last year, so, if that's the case, it must have something to do with the management and the people above!..

We as alway's have no idea as to what will happen, but the way the 49ers have worked under the pressure they took on, they've done a great job, so, lets get up and see how far they can get us, I'm for thinking they'll know what awaits them if they make it, and I think they'll be planning for whatever that might be!..

Its said a better squad this time around, so, a correct new additions or four should do the job, no club that goes up has a team full of Premier league players, and like we'll have to all have to try and find the right mix,

When Bielsa got us up last time, I felt that our squad needed revamping for Premier League football, but they all (mostly) stepped up to the job, if only for one season.

We will have time to improve the team and a manager who isn't concerned about keeping a minimalist squad.
Farke hasn't got the flair of Bielsa, but he seems to have a very solid, practical approach to the game.

NJS, so you think none of our current team can play at Premiership level? I think Dan James will be much better next time, as he won’t be played as a striker. I think Tanaka, Aaronson, Ampadu, Rodon, Bogle should be OK if we get stronger players in for the rest of the team. Soloman and Rothwell are not our players so they aren’t included. We don’t know about Schmidt as he’s not had a chance to show what he can do, but he’s on a long contract so will probably be part of the team.

Joseph is not good enough, and probably Piroe isn’t either. I’m hoping Ramazani will get better when he is match fit.

comment by MaidinLeeds (U2464)
posted 7 minutes ago
NJS, so you think none of our current team can play at Premiership level? I think Dan James will be much better next time, as he won’t be played as a striker. I think Tanaka, Aaronson, Ampadu, Rodon, Bogle should be OK if we get stronger players in for the rest of the team. Soloman and Rothwell are not our players so they aren’t included. We don’t know about Schmidt as he’s not had a chance to show what he can do, but he’s on a long contract so will probably be part of the team.

Joseph is not good enough, and probably Piroe isn’t either. I’m hoping Ramazani will get better when he is match fit.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Well I think there is lots of question marks, some of those players you mention are well exposed, a good example is James, I think.
He’s been very good, a joy to watch at times, at this level…but question marks remain for me…can he maintain this good form at a higher level?

Personally I think he’s well exposed at Premiership and the Championship is a level I think he’s comfortable with. I do take your point ref some other players, you can’t be categorical…maybe some can step up and some can’t…also have doubts about Gnonto, lacks a lot of self discipline which lets him down.

Piroe is just not my kind of striker I want to see at Leeds, too passive, not enough speed to frighten defenders, skill set not enough for the Premiership as a striker.

I think the criteria at present time is to look at the other teams and how they’ve fared…are we better than Leicester, Ipswich and Southampton?
Lots of food for thought, are we just another yo-yo club, fodder for the more established clubs?
My opinion is we are!

comment by MaidinLeeds (U2464)
posted 25 minutes ago
NJS, so you think none of our current team can play at Premiership level? I think Dan James will be much better next time, as he won’t be played as a striker. I think Tanaka, Aaronson, Ampadu, Rodon, Bogle should be OK if we get stronger players in for the rest of the team. Soloman and Rothwell are not our players so they aren’t included. We don’t know about Schmidt as he’s not had a chance to show what he can do, but he’s on a long contract so will probably be part of the team.

Joseph is not good enough, and probably Piroe isn’t either. I’m hoping Ramazani will get better when he is match fit.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

I do think there is a player in Joseph. It's really his first season in men's football and he isn't playing too badly and always makes it tough for the defenders and gets into good positions. As a general rule strikers take a bit more time to get fully up to speed and bloom a bit later. Look a Liam Delap struggled to score in the championship last season and will almost definitely be playing prem football next season even if Ipswich get relegated.

All good and well for people to say that we’ll just enjoy this season and cross the bridge of PL when we get to it….. BUT I hope management off the field are starting to plan ahead.

Agree with NJS about some in this squad - not PL level. Neither is Farke (worst PL record from managers that have managed 30+ games). Not have a go - just stating that’s the reality of it.

I forgot Gnonto , but he has left a lot to be desired this season, so I wouldn’t keep him unless he improves massively. I just hope the guys at the Club, who are responsible for transfers in and out, are really good at their jobs because we fans all think we know who should stay and who should go, but we probably don’t!

I honestly think Leeds were the best side in the championship last season. We missed a month of the season getting the team together and ultimately that’s what cost us. We beat Ipswich twice, we beat Leicester twice. Only Southampton had our number as we suited their style.
The question now is are Leeds better this season than last? We have lost the individual flair of Summerville/Rutter but we do seem to be a more consistent side overall.
On this basis if you were to chuck us in the premier league at Southampton’s expense I do think we could finish above Ipswich and challenge Leicester but finding a third team to overall is difficult.
Next season we would start as favourites to finish above the other 2 sides who go up.
You look at the current teams 15-17th and it’s hard to see us break them with what we have at present
Wolves have cunha who is good enough to play in the top6. A real Raphinha type game changer.
Everton are really solid - England Gk, solid centre backs and midfield and the flair of McNeill.
Palace are solid with some quality in eze.
Unless there is a massive drop off in a team like Brighton Bournemouth Brentford Forest it’s going to be a very tough league next season.
Recruitment team won’t have a massive budget and the pressure will be to find 3-4 mid table premier league players. Not easy

I don't think anybody is saying this squad is premier, what they are saying is some players are good enough to make the step up, it just needs the right players going out with better coming in!..

The same as any club that are promoted!..

As for Farke not being good enough, if he gets us up that'll be 3 promotions and 1 play off lost in attempts, any manager that can do that is good enough for the premiership, the only reason he failed at Norwich was he wasn't given the backing he needed, the same reason Bielsa failed at Leeds!..

If he takes us up as champions than those 3 promotions would be a very impresive record!..

"play off final lost".....

I do think this season's squad is more balanced than
last season. And we spread the ball around more - less
reliant on Summerville and Rutter's brilliance to win.

Saying that, I agree with A14 (and NJS I think?), that
if we do go up, we will need a smart summer of adding
Prem quality that can integrate quickly. Three to four
players with Prem experience. Definitely need a new
Prem level keeper.

I'd say add a couple more from Europe/SoAm that
can offer what Raphina did. Misses like Rodrigo will
send us right back down. The gulf is huge. As
others have said, it will be a very tough season.

As we all know though, we can't worry about that
until we actually win promotion.

Piroe now has 9 goals & 5 assists this season which puts him up very near the top of the charts in both departments.

The lad is extremely underrated in general. He has a casual-looking style (on top of always looking stoned 🤣) which unfortunately works against him in this era of people wanting headless chicken footballers.

Unfortunately Joseph's relative success in pre-season has worked against him as people hyped him up way too much. We're now over the halfway mark in the campaign & he's scored twice.

I sincerely hope the 49ers have a no 9 on the shopping list because if Piroe was to pick up an injury, with Joseph, Gelhardt & the mighty fraud we'd be in big trouble.

comment by White as Snow (U22893)
posted 8 minutes ago
Piroe now has 9 goals & 5 assists this season which puts him up very near the top of the charts in both departments.

The lad is extremely underrated in general. He has a casual-looking style (on top of always looking stoned 🤣) which unfortunately works against him in this era of people wanting headless chicken footballers.

Unfortunately Joseph's relative success in pre-season has worked against him as people hyped him up way too much. We're now over the halfway mark in the campaign & he's scored twice.

I sincerely hope the 49ers have a no 9 on the shopping list because if Piroe was to pick up an injury, with Joseph, Gelhardt & the mighty fraud we'd be in big trouble.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

You're now seriously underrating Joseph. We've won plenty of games with him starting. Also our good run last season was with Bamford up top. We wouldn't be in big trouble. Also goals are a lot more spread out this season.

Also people seriously underrating Gnonto in this thread as well. Thought he played really well 1st half yesterday. Was great first couple of months in the season, has been less impact full recently but that happens with young players

comment by EnfieldLeeds88 (U10248)
posted 2 hours ago
comment by White as Snow (U22893)
posted 8 minutes ago
Piroe now has 9 goals & 5 assists this season which puts him up very near the top of the charts in both departments.

The lad is extremely underrated in general. He has a casual-looking style (on top of always looking stoned 🤣) which unfortunately works against him in this era of people wanting headless chicken footballers.

Unfortunately Joseph's relative success in pre-season has worked against him as people hyped him up way too much. We're now over the halfway mark in the campaign & he's scored twice.

I sincerely hope the 49ers have a no 9 on the shopping list because if Piroe was to pick up an injury, with Joseph, Gelhardt & the mighty fraud we'd be in big trouble.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

You're now seriously underrating Joseph. We've won plenty of games with him starting. Also our good run last season was with Bamford up top. We wouldn't be in big trouble. Also goals are a lot more spread out this season.

Also people seriously underrating Gnonto in this thread as well. Thought he played really well 1st half yesterday. Was great first couple of months in the season, has been less impact full recently but that happens with young players

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Joseph's done nothing of note for some time now.

And in the interest of peace & harmony i'm not even engaging in debate about the great fraud 🤣🤣

comment by White as Snow (U22893)
posted 43 minutes ago
comment by EnfieldLeeds88 (U10248)
posted 2 hours ago
comment by White as Snow (U22893)
posted 8 minutes ago
Piroe now has 9 goals & 5 assists this season which puts him up very near the top of the charts in both departments.

The lad is extremely underrated in general. He has a casual-looking style (on top of always looking stoned 🤣) which unfortunately works against him in this era of people wanting headless chicken footballers.

Unfortunately Joseph's relative success in pre-season has worked against him as people hyped him up way too much. We're now over the halfway mark in the campaign & he's scored twice.

I sincerely hope the 49ers have a no 9 on the shopping list because if Piroe was to pick up an injury, with Joseph, Gelhardt & the mighty fraud we'd be in big trouble.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

You're now seriously underrating Joseph. We've won plenty of games with him starting. Also our good run last season was with Bamford up top. We wouldn't be in big trouble. Also goals are a lot more spread out this season.

Also people seriously underrating Gnonto in this thread as well. Thought he played really well 1st half yesterday. Was great first couple of months in the season, has been less impact full recently but that happens with young players

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Joseph's done nothing of note for some time now.

And in the interest of peace & harmony i'm not even engaging in debate about the great fraud 🤣🤣
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Aaronson's not a great fraud, just an ordinary everyday sort of fraud.

comment by montleeds (U18330)
posted 57 minutes ago
comment by White as Snow (U22893)
posted 43 minutes ago
comment by EnfieldLeeds88 (U10248)
posted 2 hours ago
comment by White as Snow (U22893)
posted 8 minutes ago
Piroe now has 9 goals & 5 assists this season which puts him up very near the top of the charts in both departments.

The lad is extremely underrated in general. He has a casual-looking style (on top of always looking stoned 🤣) which unfortunately works against him in this era of people wanting headless chicken footballers.

Unfortunately Joseph's relative success in pre-season has worked against him as people hyped him up way too much. We're now over the halfway mark in the campaign & he's scored twice.

I sincerely hope the 49ers have a no 9 on the shopping list because if Piroe was to pick up an injury, with Joseph, Gelhardt & the mighty fraud we'd be in big trouble.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

You're now seriously underrating Joseph. We've won plenty of games with him starting. Also our good run last season was with Bamford up top. We wouldn't be in big trouble. Also goals are a lot more spread out this season.

Also people seriously underrating Gnonto in this thread as well. Thought he played really well 1st half yesterday. Was great first couple of months in the season, has been less impact full recently but that happens with young players

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Joseph's done nothing of note for some time now.

And in the interest of peace & harmony i'm not even engaging in debate about the great fraud 🤣🤣
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Aaronson's not a great fraud, just an ordinary everyday sort of fraud.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Aaronson's doing well. You must know who the great fraud is? 🤣🤣

comment by Kebablegs (U17699)
posted 6 hours, 13 minutes ago
I honestly think Leeds were the best side in the championship last season. We missed a month of the season getting the team together and ultimately that’s what cost us. We beat Ipswich twice, we beat Leicester twice. Only Southampton had our number as we suited their style.
The question now is are Leeds better this season than last? We have lost the individual flair of Summerville/Rutter but we do seem to be a more consistent side overall.
On this basis if you were to chuck us in the premier league at Southampton’s expense I do think we could finish above Ipswich and challenge Leicester but finding a third team to overall is difficult.
Next season we would start as favourites to finish above the other 2 sides who go up.
You look at the current teams 15-17th and it’s hard to see us break them with what we have at present
Wolves have cunha who is good enough to play in the top6. A real Raphinha type game changer.
Everton are really solid - England Gk, solid centre backs and midfield and the flair of McNeill.
Palace are solid with some quality in eze.
Unless there is a massive drop off in a team like Brighton Bournemouth Brentford Forest it’s going to be a very tough league next season.
Recruitment team won’t have a massive budget and the pressure will be to find 3-4 mid table premier league players. Not easy
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Largely agree with this, I think the concern re last season was we’d recovered from the poor start but were running on empty down the stretch.

It can be hard to predict who is going to step up and who isn’t. Both as a team and as individuals. Brentford and Bournemouth went up a few years back with average sides. Forest rode their luck hugely to stay up in the first season. It’s true you likely need one of the ‘mid’ teams to have a bad season, but often one of them does. You need to be just good enough to take advantage… tough but not impossible… and as you say… will need some good recruitment.

Interesting how cunha’s done. Orta tried to sign him, and we thought he was mad… his goals/assists record was ordinary.

McNeil looked a tidy player with no end product at Burnley.