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Gary McAllister on course to restore glory days at Leeds United
REMINDERS of happier days for Leeds United are never far away at Elland Road.
There are the stands named after Don Revie and John Charles, the executive suites that honour Peter Lorimer, Billy Bremner, Jack Charlton and Howard Wilkinson, and there is the honours board that details all those who played international football during their time at Leeds.
Then, there are the dozens of photos that line the corridors of United's home, paying homage to the stars of the past.
Heritage clearly matters at Elland Road, even if the reminders of more recent successes do rather underline to visitors and Leeds devotees alike just how far – and fast – the club have fallen in the new millennium.
Unlike the days when Mark Viduka and Alan Smith led the attack or Rio Ferdinand brought both finesse and steel to the back-line, the class of 2008 will this weekend kick off a second season in League One.
The man charged with leading United out of the third tier is, of course, no stranger to the club's history with Gary McAllister having spent six years as the fulcrum of the Leeds midfield. One league title triumph and a League Cup runners-up medal were, anyone who remembers him in a white shirt will tell you, scant reward for his efforts.
It means the Scot appreciates more than most the depths to which Leeds have sunk, though he is also quick to stress that the coming season represents a truly fresh start.
Speaking to the Yorkshire Post in his office next to the players' tunnel at Elland Road, McAllister said: "This coming season is the first time this club has been able to look forward in many, many years.
"Last season, even though the club had come out of administration, was dogged by the 15 points saga. And if you look at the two or three seasons that preceded it, Leeds spent all their time contending with one huge problem after another.
"It put the club in a downward spiral, the extent of which I see when I look at some of the photos on the walls. I was looking at one recently of Mark Viduka and David Batty playing against Valencia in the Champions League semi-finals and it was difficult to believe that game took place only a few years ago. It shows just how far the club has fallen.
"But I feel we have, finally, reached a time where the oil tanker has started to turn round. It is a fresh start."
McAllister's return to Elland Road last February came at a time when United's season had hit trouble. The scintillating start, which had allowed United to wipe out their 15-point penalty by the second Saturday in September and then move into the play-offs before the end of the following month, was long gone.
Results had dipped, as had the team's confidence. A 2-0 defeat at home to Tranmere Rovers in the 43-year-old's first game in charge merely emphasised the size of the task that lay ahead.
Gradually, however, McAllister's influence started to be felt with the direct approach favoured by his predecessor giving way to a more pleasing-on-the-eye passing style that would eventually ensure United booked a place in the play-offs.
Defeat followed to Doncaster Rovers at Wembley but the United manager insists: "I have not detected any hangover from what happened in the final since we returned for pre-season. The mood is good."
McAllister remains in regular contact with many of his former United team-mates together with the manager who brought him to Leeds from Leicester for 1m in 1990.
He said: "I speak to Howard Wilkinson about certain things, and I also speak to David Batty, Gary Speed and Chris Whyte. The one I speak the most to, though, is Gordon (Strachan).
"He has done a great job at Glasgow Celtic and we are both at clubs where anyone would want to manage. There is an intensity that is not found at many clubs and it is good to discuss what is happening."
Looking ahead to the new season and the opening game against Scunthorpe United on Saturday, McAllister said: "I want the players to have the same mindset as last season, even though the circumstances are different.
"This time last year, they utilised the points deduction in making it a case of 'we are Leeds, no-on likes us but we just don't care'. It was a siege mentality.
"It has to be the same again. By that I don't necessarily mean that we don't want anyone to like us but we have to be all in this together to make sure we get off to a fast start.
"This is our second season in this division and that might take away a little bit of what we faced last season as playing Leeds United will not be such a novelty for our opponents.
"But I still feel everyone will see us as a big scalp, that is inevitable. We have to be ready for that."
McAllister's focus is on leading United to promotion in the coming season, though he admits to not being able to resist looking even further ahead.
"There is a lot of hard work but what I do know is that the potential is here to go all the way. Everything is in place in terms of our facilities and our crowd.
"There is no doubt in my mind that Leeds United will get back in the Premier League, it is just a matter of when. My hope is it happens during my reign."
On their way to Elland Road
In: Alan Sheehan (Leicester City, undisclosed), Andy Robinson (Swansea City, free) right, Enoch Showunmi (Bristol City, free), Robert Snodgrass (Livingstone, undisclosed), Luciano Becchio (Merida).
Out: Leon Constantine (Northampton Town), Tomi Ameobi (Doncaster Rovers, undisclosed fee), Alan Thompson (retired), Anthony
Elding (Crewe Alexandra, 150,000), Curtis Weston (Gillingham, loan).
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 26 May 2012
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