David Haigh: My unfinished business with Leeds United

Mr Haigh is reluctant to criticise the current Leeds owner when asked to assess his regime, but suggests the club is a “millstone round his neck at the moment”.

“He had a difficult situation to deal with, and it has not been easy,” he said. “Leeds has issues that needs to be dealt with, and I think Massimo has found that as well. What can be said is that the club is moving along. It is a difficult question to answer because I haven’t been able to see everything.

Ex-Leeds United boss David Haigh: ‘I could see the Dubai everyone else sees, but also the dungeon below it’

Why Leeds United fans ‘deserve apology from ex-owners GFH’ - and why Brian McDermott should have been kept on - by ex-MD

“I think he has faced great challenges, which a lot of fans won’t realise. When you buy something new like that, and you have all the passion that he had at the beginning, and I know he had passion because I was there with him for the first few months.”

Despite his experiences at the club, Mr Haigh insists Leeds United remains “unfinished business” for him as he ponders his future.

He said: “I am going to work in financing sports clubs and various other things. I have got to fight my legal cases, so I will be busy with that, but Leeds to me, however long it takes, is unfinished business. It’s an amazing club, it needs to be not where it is.

“I know why we haven’t been able to get there, we have had bad owners basically, who buy it for the wrong reasons, I am not including Massimo in that.

“But it now needs that big push. If you have clubs like Burnley going up and down in the Premier League, why is Leeds still where we are?”