Paraag Marathe on Leeds United's Premier League target and Brenden Aaronson on the ingredient vital to achieving it
Chairman Paraag Marathe has told supporters Leeds United will need their "energy" again next season because the Whites will not consider themselves established in the Premier League until they have survived two more campaigns.
Leeds and Europa League qualifiers Sunderland are the only newly-promoted teams for three years not to go straight back down, so it was quite right the Elland Road chairman praised "an extraordinary effort" in his end-of-season message.
But having been relegated after three years of their last Premier League stint, Leeds do not yet feel secure in the top division.
If the tone sounds negative to some, it should be taken as a good sign that the board will get behind manager Daniel Farke's recent public request to keep moving the club forward. And the American was certainly not overlooking what was achieved in a 47-point season.
"I am immensely proud to have achieved our goal of securing another season in the Premier League," wrote Marathe. "We are also especially proud to have recorded our first league win at Old Trafford since 1981 and to have reached our first FA Cup semi-final since 1987.
"This season, clearly one of the determining factors for the squad was your energy at Elland Road – we collected 32 points on home soil. We will need that energy next season.
"History shows that the second season in the Premier League can be just as, if not more, challenging (than) the first. We remain ambitious but measured and deliberate, understanding that it will take three long-fought seasons before we can truly operate like an established Premier League side."
As to how they will go about the summer, Marathe promised: "Our approach to the transfer market will once again be strategic and disciplined to comply with regulations while striving further to improve, and players will both arrive and depart as a result.
"Remaining in the Premier League allows us to keep building, both on and off the pitch."
He signed of with: "There is still important work ahead, and I am incredibly confident about what comes next for Leeds United."
As well as backing Farke in the transfer market, Leeds also need to preserve the dressing-room spirit Brenden Aaronson says has been so important in a season in which they finished above FA Cup holders and UEFA Conference League finalists Crystal Palace, Europa League semi-finalists Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur, who were fourth in the Champions League group stage, amongst others.
"This unity in this group is not like I've ever seen before," commented Aaronson. "The locker room is amazing.
"(There's) so many great personalities, so many great people that just get along with each other. We're a big family and we fight for each other. We've shown that all season.
"When we have to run in games, when we have to defend, none of the guys are afraid to roll up their sleeves and do the dirty work. That's what makes us Leeds. It makes us the team we've been this season.
"We definitely need to take things from that into the next season and prepare that we're going to have tough games but we need to stick together. We've done that all season."