Simon Jordan believes Leeds United will be able to bounce straight back to the Premier League if they are relegated this weekend, with or without Sam Allardyce.
The Whites must win their final game of the season against Tottenham to have any chance of survival, while hoping that Everton lose and Leicester don’t match their result.
But when asked live on talkSPORT (23 May, 11:37) by Jim White about whether Allardyce or Leeds would be back in the Premier League first should their relegation be confirmed, Jordan admitted that he can’t see Big Sam returning to the top flight any time soon.
“Depends if Sam stays at Leeds because I think Leeds have the propensity to go straight back up again,” he said.
“I don’t know [if Sam will stay at Leeds]. I don’t think Sam is going to get at this stage of his career, whether people like it or not, least of all Sam, is going to get that many opportunities in the Premier League.
“Leeds are a great club. A big club that shouldn’t be getting themselves relegated. They have to look at themselves. They committed an act of self-harm by getting themselves relegated, and relegated they will get next week.
“They haven’t even exercised the spirit of Bielsa. That should have been long gone by now. They should have been moving on and looking forward rather than sitting back at Bielsa.
“I think Leeds will come straight back up again.”
Foundations
This club is in a far better position than we were in the last time we got relegated, and if it is to happen again at the weekend then fans will be far more confident of how it gets handled.
Obviously several top players will leave because that’s the nature of the beast, but the club are in a good place financially and Leeds will be able to hold on to some stars just like Watford and Burnley did last year.
As for Allardyce’s future, he has made a good impact since coming in but simply wasn’t given enough time to really turn things around.
All of the club’s managerial targets earlier in the season were for Premier League football and the board could arguably do worse than keeping Big Sam in the job for another year to secure our place back in the top flight before then potentially taking another look at someone else.
Whether he’d agree to that or not is another matter, but we’re not down yet anyway and until Sunday’s games are all over then we have to believe that something special can happen at Elland Road.
In other Leeds news, Jordan took a swipe at owner Andrea Radrizzani during an on-air rant.
