Second chance: Gaetano Berardi loving life at resurgent Leeds United

World champions a little over a decade ago, the former Super League giant was liquidated after the administrator was unable to strike a rescue deal.

It was a sad end to what had been one of the big success stories of the switch to summer rugby in 1995 and a timely reminder of how quickly things can change in professional sport.

Leeds United supporters will be able to empathise with that.

The Elland Road club may have survived their own stint in administration not long after the Bulls last ruled the rugby league world, but there can be no denying that their own decline was a sharp one.

In recent years, there seemed no escape with the revolving door policy on managers under Massimo Cellino and often chaotic goings-on having turned United into a laughing stock.

Then, though, Garry Monk arrived as head coach and soon a remarkable transformation was under way.

Leeds are now being talked about in glowing terms once again and the feelgood factor is back. ‘Living the dream’ is a phrase capable of making the Elland Road faithful shudder, but this is a club where a Premier League return is no longer the pipedream it once seemed.

Gaetano Berardi, part of the foreign legion that arrived during Cellino’s first summer at the helm, is relishing this season’s upturn in fortunes.

Like the generation that has grown up since Leeds were relegated from the top flight in 2004, he is seeing for the first time just what a different place Elland Road can be when fuelled by a sense of positive momentum.

Not that he is getting carried away. United, on the back of a 12-game run that has yielded nine wins, may be seven points adrift of automatic promotion, but the former Switzerland international is adamant that Monk’s squad are remaining grounded.

“For now we think about the play-offs because the table is very close between six or seven teams,” he said when asked about the possibility of reeling in either Brighton & Hove Albion or Newcastle United. “The first two are a lot of points in front of us.

“But we can do much better than we are doing. The target is to win every game because there are a lot of teams behind us and a lot of teams in front of us.

“It will be hard to stay in this position, but if we play like we have been then we can do it.”

Berardi has started United’s last three games in place of the injured Charlie Taylor at left-back.

It has been a welcome return to the starting line-up for someone who suffered a hamstring injury in the opening weekend defeat at Queens Park Rangers that kept him out for a couple of months.

Following on from the troublesome ankle problem that dogged Berardi last season, this fresh injury brought further frustration to a player who had adapted well to English football despite an inauspicious start.

That involved being sent off on his debut for Leeds, a brutal attempted tackle against Accrington Stanley that more resembled a kung-fu kick, incurring a three-game ban. Berardi’s second red card followed less than a month later to suggest United had signed a player who was going to be a liability, but the reality has proved very different.

Having served a second suspension, he quickly settled down and by the end of 2014-15 had become a fans’ favourite. Not joining what was perceived to be a protest against then head coach Neil Redfearn by six of the club’s foreign contingent when they withdrew from the squad to face Charlton Athletic citing injury certainly helped in that respect, as did the high standard of his displays in an otherwise disappointing campaign.

“It is really very nice to be back in the team,” said Berardi about his recent trio of appearances. “I was just waiting for my chance. Now I try and do my best each game, while waiting for Chaz (Taylor) to come back.

“I have played a lot of games at left-back so I can play there. Of course, maybe it is a little bit better on the other side, but he (first-choice right-back Luke Ayling) needs to play because he is doing well. Results have been good and the gaffer finds it difficult to change players because of that.

“I want to try and go to the play-offs. If the gaffer says to play there, then I play there. It is not a problem. There is a lot of competition in this position, but that is good.”

Taylor could return against Derby County on January 13, meaning Berardi is likely to be involved again next Monday when United head to Cambridge United hoping to avoid the ignominy of becoming a giant-killing victim in an FA Cup third-round tie that is being shown live by BT Sport.

“Now we have a few days off and we can prepare for the Cup,” Berardi said. “It is maybe a good chance for some other players to show something to the gaffer. We have to win and then look to get a good game in the next round – any club in Premier League. It is all the same.”