As the season draws to an uneventful close you’d struggle to blame the fans for being a little pessimistic about the future at Elland Road.

It’s a well known and well discussed fact that the team needs investment, so with Neil Warnock publicly stating that Ken Bates plans to give him the financial backing needed to build a promotion winning side, is it finally time to lay down the weapons, get behind the club and trust them to do the right thing?

With Warnocks first summer signing due to arrive in the first week of May, rumoured to be Jason Pearce from Portsmouth, it could be that we are witnessing the start of a new era at Elland Road. Promotion to the Premier League would see Leeds come full circle and battling against the countries elite once again, though the Leeds United that would return wouldn’t be anything like the same Leeds United that fell apart all those years ago.

These days, the fans have their usual high expectations and hopes but hold a bigger sense of realism than ever before, nobody would expect us to be challenging for Europe in our first season, the majority would settle for simply surviving. From there, we’d have the chance to rebuild ‘brick by brick’ to become a force once again. This, of course, is all dependant on achieving promotion, which will be no easy task in a league that is already shaping up to be a seriously competitive division.

This is why, in my opinion, it’s time to drop the anti-Bates mindset and focus instead on rallying around Warnock and the team he creates over the next few months. Ken Bates is our owner until he sees fit, that much is abundantly clear, so if he does indeed invest in the team as promised it may be better to forgive and move on, even if forgetting might be a step too far.

On the playing front the team have been as unpredictable as ever, though the weekends draw with Cardiff helped appease the growing frustrations of an end of season with nothing to play for.

Warnock has gone on record to say that they are playing for their futures and he’s backed this up with the departures of Mika Varynen, the injury plagued pair Ben Parker and Darren O’Dea, whom many believed would be signed up as a squad player upon expiration of his contract at Celtic.

There are also rumours that only 6 of the current squad have been asked to stay with the rest seemingly told that their futures are not with Leeds United. Whether such a mass clear out actually takes place is anyone’s guess, but it’s quite clear that we’re in for an eventful summer regardless.

It’s easy to understand the fans frustrations over the last few years, but looking back and focusing on the past wont result in progress. Neil Warnock is undoubtedly the man to get Leeds back to the promised land but he has repeatedly stated how he only has one year left, meaning that next season really could be our best chance of success. I for one could never defend Ken Bates, too much has happened for me to be able to find any positives in his seemingly never ending tenure as Chairman, but if he allows Warnock to build a team that has the potential to achieve the great things that we as fans have craved for years then i’d be more than happy to call it quits.

Bates in?

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