Andrea Radrizzani has spoken about a five-year plan at Leeds United.
Leeds United fans have responded to recent comments made by club owner and chairman Andrea Radrizzani about his long-term plan at Elland Road.
The 42-year-old Italian businessman has also stated that if he is not able to take the West Yorkshire outfit back into the English top flight in five years, then he will sell the club.
“I am giving a maximum of five years to be in the Premier League,” Radrizzani told The Guardian. “If I try and I am not able then it is probably best for someone else to try, maybe with more resources than me.
“If I go up I’m not selling. I am young, I can stay here for 20 years and enjoy. It’s a dream; why build all of this if I then have to leave?
“If however in five years I don’t succeed … obviously there is a cycle for everything. It could be the end of the cycle if I realise I am not good for this job. Life is full of surprises but now I can’t wait to be in [the Premier League].”
Leeds fans have responded to the aforementioned comments made by Radrizzani by posting their comments on HITC Sport.
Freddy N: “Why five years, Rad? Why not ‘we’re going for it this season’. Haven’t we suffered enough with long term plans!”
Peter duval: “What’s all this 5 years nonsense!! We are Leeds United – we should be in the Premiership next season – With the players here now we should go up – Don’t falter at the 11th hurdle – go get Helander and Kent.”
Justnotanothermoaningminnie: “Why do I get the feeling that if we we reach the playoffs it will not be good enough. If we have a brilliant season but failed to get promotion it will not be good enough. Why do I get the feeling if we DONT get promoted this season everything will be for nothing. Revie, Wilko, Shankly, Mercer and just a few others took four, five years to build a great team. Yeah! We have been in the doldrums for years, yeah we are weary and desperate for success but perhaps it’s because we don’t have a money tree, a blank cheque book, bottomless money pot. Maybe we really need a Red Bull with all the money in the world. Knock the whole place down, retire the legend to the dusty, cobwebs of a football museum and start from square one. Tell you what, how about waiting until the end of the season that hasn’t even kicked off before you condemn every b****y thing that happens at this club. Constructive criticism is one thing, just moaning and bleating and complaining about everything is another.”
David: “I think AR is just trying to set realistic goals rather than aiming for a quick fix mentality. Saying that a maximum of 5 years doesn’t mean he ‘wants’ it to take 5 years. We all want to go up this season. But let’s not pin everything on that and get totally deflated if it doesn’t happen in the first season. Top 6 finish is a good target to start with and take it from there. We’ll soon see if were going in the right direction and we can take it from there. I’m really happy to see an owner say he wants to give it a go for 5 years and will only walk away if we can’t achieve that. If we had a chairman like that during the last 13 years, we probably would already promoted.”
Leeds are one of the biggest clubs in England and often get over 30,000 fans for their home matches at Elland Road in the Championship.
The Whites have not featured in the Premier League since 2004 and narrowly missed out on a place in the Championship playoffs last season.
The West Yorkshire outfit will be determined to end up in the top six of the Championship this season, and the Elland Road faithful should be optimistic about the 2017-18 campaign.
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