OPINION
Sky Sports pundit David Prutton is exactly right when he argues that Leeds United must back Marcelo Bielsa in the hope that he can deliver promotion at the second time of asking.
Writing in a column for the Yorkshire Evening Post, Prutton said that he would feel “confident” about Bielsa achieving promotion next term.
“His style won’t be fresh this summer in the way that it was a year ago, and sometimes that can make raising yourself a challenge, but I always go back to the same point: some in this squad might never work with Bielsa again,” the pundit wrote.
“Make the most of it while you can. Bielsa rode an unbelievable number of injuries and a learning curve in the Championship to take the club to within 46 minutes of the play-off final.
“All of which creates a very obvious conclusion: keep him, back him and trust him to do the business at the second time of asking. I’d feel confident that he can.”
Prutton is spot on with these statements. The fact is that Bielsa, having taken over a side that finished 13th in the Championship and looked to be going nowhere fast, has transformed this team into play-off contenders.
Forget the fact that Leeds fell at the final hurdle once again for a minute: to take a side from 13th to the play-off semi-finals is an astonishing achievement in itself, let alone in the Championship.
The foundations are definitely there, but one area the club needs to focus on next season is the final weeks of the regular season.
This term, the Whites completely collapsed in the final four weeks, picking up one point from a possible 12 as their hopes of automatic promotion faded away and went into the hands of Sheffield United.
Defeats to Wigan Athletic, Brentford and Ipswich were sandwiched in between that controversial draw with Aston Villa, and it is a run of results that must not be replicated next time round.
The Whites have shown enough this season to suggest that they have the credentials to go up – including their impressive style of play and their staying power for large parts of the season – but it is that final hurdle that the club will have to cross if they are to go up.
And doing it would be frankly impossible with the departure of Bielsa, which would send the club catapulting back down to where they were before the Argentine arrived.