In a rare dose of optimism, I wanted to talk about the fate of the Leeds squad should the Premier League await next season. This may suggest I’ve been huffing Hopium as if every lungful results in £100 straight to my bank account, but in reality I’d rather look forwards than fret about the inevitable scenario in which Leeds finish 3rd and lose to Sunderland in the play-offs.

Let’s start with an obvious but underappreciated statement: Leeds United are objectively one of the strongest sides in the Championship. Man for man, player for player, we have a stronger squad than pretty much everyone else. This means that our average standard of performance is expected to be higher than many of our opponents.

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