Top six is the target but Headingley club must also strive to generate bigger crowds in order to build

Merely surviving in the Premiership – a feat considered monumental last term – will not be good enough in 2010-11.

The club have made public their ambitions to finish in the top six, thus qualifying for the following season's Heineken Cup.

To help the transition from relegation battlers to candidates for Europe's premier club competition, the Leeds board has negotiated with the club's creditors to freeze the 1.5m debt accumulated last season for 12 months, enabling the coaching staff of Andy Key and Neil Back to bring in a better standard of player.

It is a calculated risk from the Leeds heirarchy, given the money on offer in the Heineken Cup that would wipe out the debt should they achieve their goal.

It is also a gamble made on the strength of what has been accomplished at Headingley Carnegie in the two years since Key and Back took position as director of rugby and head coach respectively.

The mission in the first year of the three-year contracts the two men signed was to win promotion from National One, which they did with a game to spare and with only a couple of minor blemishes on the way.

Objective No 2 was to end Leeds's recent yo-yo existence by defying the odds and avoiding relegation back down to the second tier, which again was achieved on the back of a defiant surge off the foot of the table in the second half of the season.

The third part of the plan is to establish the club in the top half of the Aviva Premiership, hence their enthusiasm for publishing their goals.

Leeds stand to lose face and a lot of money if they fail in their objective – but aiming for 11th again would suggest the club has no ambition. And as Ben Kay wisely points out in our article above, setting the players a repeat challenge of avoiding relegation would not instill in the squad the same desire, determination and seige mentality their successful campaign was achieved on last season.

The growing reputation of Back has also to be taken into account.

A formidable figure as a player for both Leicester Tigers and England, the World Cup winner now has two years under his belt as a coach who delivers on his promises.

For a man with a burning obsession to succeed, would he be satisfied if the club's directors set modest targets?

With the World Cup now only a year away and Martin Johnson's position becoming increasingly perilous, another season of progression from Leeds and Back could even find himself in the mix for the top job.

So, the Heineken Cup is seen as a natural progression by the club, while the majority of punters on the Headingley terraces would be content with another season of consolidation, with perhaps fewer palpitations about relegation and a rise up the league table by a couple of notches thrown in for good measure.

Getting bums on seats is another part of Leeds's grand plan. The club hope that the 10,000 fans who witnessed the Premiership-preserving win over Worcester in the final home game of the season can be enticed back, consigning the days of an average attendance of half that for the county's top-flight representatives to history.

Winning a home Premiership game before March, which they failed to do last season, will be essential in not only realising their top-six ambitions but in generating income through attendances, sponsorship and hospitality to offset their expenditure on players.

Blocking Leeds's path to the Heineken Cup is the remainder of the Aviva Premiership, with the exception of Exeter who will be over the moon if they can repeat what Leeds managed last season.

Sale, Newcastle, Gloucester and Harlequins all finished outside the top six last year and will feel they have it within themselves to transform their fortunes.

And Leicester, Northampton, Saracens, Bath, Wasps and London Irish will not take kindly to northern upstarts gatecrashing their party.

This could be a pivotal year for Leeds.

Failure to finish top six will not be catastrophic, but an inability to build on last season's survival would take the gloss off that achievement, while relegation would render it meaningless.

VENTER REFUSES TO HOLD HIS TONGUE

EXPECT more fireworks in the Aviva Premiership this season after one of the league's most opinionated voices promised to continue challenging authority.

Saracens' colourful director of rugby Brendan Venter became embroiled in several high-profile disputes during the club's march to the Premiership final, where they were edged out in dramatic circumstances by Leicester.

Venter was absent from the biggest match in Saracens' history as he served a 10-week touchline ban for making provocative and inappropriate gestures and comments to Leicester supporters in May.

The terms of the suspension meant he was prohibited from even entering Twickenham and the whole disciplinary process provoked a war of words between Saracens and the RFU.

His forthright approach may not be to everyone's liking, but Venter's presence has helped turn the Premiership's great underachievers into a credible force. Just do not ask him to hold his tongue.

"I will not change because if you get into a position where you can't criticise a system, it becomes a disaster," said the South African. "I'm disappointed when commentators like Will Greenwood attack me for the remarks I make because these people do have all of the facts."

Saracens have snapped up former Rotherham star David Strettle for the new season.