Yorkshire Evening Post 1/7/10
Promotion must not distract Whites - Howson
By Phil Hay
Jonathan Howson admitted today that the time for dwelling on Leeds United's promotion was at an end as he turned his mind to resuming his career in the Championship.
The club's vice-captain is heading for a return to the level of English football where he made his full senior debut in 2006 and described how the euphoria of their escape from League One had given way to realistic appreciation of the demanding division they are about to join.
Howson was instrumental in United's automatic promotion, appearing in 45 league fixtures on the way to an achievement which is as yet unrivalled in his short career and he was beginning the fight for re-selection this morning on the first day of pre-season training.
The 22-year-old anticipated a vibrant atmosphere at Thorp Arch, seven short weeks after United's promotion was sealed by their victory over Bristol Rovers at Elland Road, but he warned that the success of last season was now a potential distraction with the start of the Championship campaign little more than a month away.
Howson said: "The emotions at the end of last season were fantastic and it was right for us to properly enjoy the moment.
"It's a major achievement, the biggest of my career and something I'd been looking to achieve for three years.
"It's been a tough job getting back into the Championship and it was a big relief to finally do it.
"I never thought it would take us so long. But you can't get too carried away by one achievement. The new season comes round pretty quickly and that gives you something completely different to think about.
"The way football is, you don't dwell on promotion for too long. It'll be forgotten by everyone when the season starts and we're a few games down the line.
"The only thing anyone will be interested in is how well we're performing and where we are in the table.
"From this point onwards, the players have got to start concentrating on next season and we will.
"It's not really any different to when we didn't win promotion. I thought about the play-off defeats long and hard but you let it go eventually and turn your mind to the job ahead of you.
"We're going into a tough league and if we prepare properly and get focused on what's in front of us then I think we can do really well at that level."
As he assessed the make-up of the Championship for the 2010-11 season, Howson found himself singing from the same hymn sheet as his manager, Simon Grayson, who suggested yesterday that Leeds would be one of no fewer than 12 clubs who would feel confident of making a credible attempt to qualify for the play-offs.
Howson has experienced the Championship before, albeit briefly, under Dennis Wise, the first coach to show confidence in the midfielder's ability. Wise gave Howson his league debut on December 23, 2006 and used him a further eight times before withdrawing him for the final stages of an increasingly fraught season.
In the years since, Howson has made more than 100 outings for United's first team and established himself as the leading appearance maker in a squad which has changed constantly. Grayson has relied on him consistently and might do so again next season, despite his plan to strengthen the pool of central midfielders available to him.
Howson said he had improved as a player since he last appeared in the Championship and the contract extension earned by him as a result of Leeds' promotion will potentially offer him another two seasons with United in that division.
"I feel I've developed since I played there last so I'm really looking forward to going back," he said. "I just want to get started now.
"We're going up a level but with Leeds you always have expectation of high standards, no matter what division or game you're playing in.
"Maybe the pressure's not quite as high as last season because we were the biggest club in League One and, with no disrespect to anyone else, we were always the favourites to go up, bar the season when we had the 15-point deduction.
"We might not have the expectation of automatic promotion but we'll be expected to give a good account of ourselves. I think we've got the squad to get up towards the top six and I'm sure the manager will bring in two or three more signings.
"There's no team I'm looking at and thinking 'they'll definitely go up' like people did with Newcastle last season.
"A lot of clubs seem to be at a similar level. Odds don't make a difference as we saw with Blackpool – they were joint favourites to go down and ended up getting promoted. It's anyone's game."
Leeds begin their season at home to Derby County, coincidentally the last club that Howson played against in the Championship and an immediate test of their potential will come a week later against Nottingham Forest, one of last season's play-off semi-finalists.
Grayson would not expect his squad to repeat the form shown at the beginning of their 2009-10 campaign, when six straight wins and 12 matches without defeat gave them control of League One, but Howson said a consistent start would be an essential step towards avoiding trouble in the lower reaches of the division.
He said: "If we get a start a bit like last season then who knows what could happen?
"We're a young, hungry side!"
Yorkshire Evening Post 1/7/10
Whites launch talent search
By Phil Hay
Leeds United are casting their eye over the younger ranks of the Premier League as manager Simon Grayson weighs up possible loan signings before the start of the Championship term.
Grayson has revealed that he is interested in pursuing the type of deal which brought teenager Sanchez Watt to Elland Road on a temporary basis last season.
Watt left Arsenal for a six-week stay with Leeds during the closing stages of their League One campaign and the 19-year-old could emerge as a transfer target again having impressed over the course of six appearances.
Grayson is attempting to identify potential options after embracing to the idea of strengthening his squad with young talent sourced from the Premier League, a strategy which also secured striker Sam Vokes, from Wolverhampton Wanderers last term.
Grayson said: "I think that's something we'll be looking at again. It's an avenue we and other teams have taken in the past and I'd be stupid not to see what's available to me.
"We had Sanchez Watt here last season and he made a really good contribution. He impressed us and he's an example of the sort of talent you can find in the Premier League.
"It's often be a win-win situation for everyone because the players get the opportunity to come out and play football and you benefit from their talent.
"We're looking at what's out there and these sort of deals often happen later in the summer but it's not a path I'm afraid to go down."
Watt came to Leeds in the last hours of the Football League's emergency loan window and he made his only start in United's 4-1 rout of MK Dons a fortnight before the end of the term. His other five appearances came as a substitute. The winger planned to fight for a place in Arsenal's plans this summer but he is on the very fringes of Arsene Wenger's first-team squad and the London club may be happy to release him on a temporary deal again if Leeds decide to renew their interest in Watt.
Wenger has made a habit of sending Arsenal's younger prospects for spells in the lower leagues and Grayson believes other Premier League managers will do the same this summer, with many Championship clubs more than happy to take up available options.
"I doubt whether we're the only club in the Championship thinking about this," Grayson said. "There isn't a lot of money around at the moment and everyone will be casting their net as wide as possible.
"That's not to say we aren't trying to make more permanent signings because we are, but you can't ignore the value of loans from the Premier League."
Leeds have struck four permanent deals since the end of last season, bringing in keeper Kasper Schmeichel, defenders Federico Bessone and Paul Connolly and striker Billy Paynter.
Promotion must not distract Whites - Howson
By Phil Hay
Jonathan Howson admitted today that the time for dwelling on Leeds United's promotion was at an end as he turned his mind to resuming his career in the Championship.
The club's vice-captain is heading for a return to the level of English football where he made his full senior debut in 2006 and described how the euphoria of their escape from League One had given way to realistic appreciation of the demanding division they are about to join.
Howson was instrumental in United's automatic promotion, appearing in 45 league fixtures on the way to an achievement which is as yet unrivalled in his short career and he was beginning the fight for re-selection this morning on the first day of pre-season training.
The 22-year-old anticipated a vibrant atmosphere at Thorp Arch, seven short weeks after United's promotion was sealed by their victory over Bristol Rovers at Elland Road, but he warned that the success of last season was now a potential distraction with the start of the Championship campaign little more than a month away.
Howson said: "The emotions at the end of last season were fantastic and it was right for us to properly enjoy the moment.
"It's a major achievement, the biggest of my career and something I'd been looking to achieve for three years.
"It's been a tough job getting back into the Championship and it was a big relief to finally do it.
"I never thought it would take us so long. But you can't get too carried away by one achievement. The new season comes round pretty quickly and that gives you something completely different to think about.
"The way football is, you don't dwell on promotion for too long. It'll be forgotten by everyone when the season starts and we're a few games down the line.
"The only thing anyone will be interested in is how well we're performing and where we are in the table.
"From this point onwards, the players have got to start concentrating on next season and we will.
"It's not really any different to when we didn't win promotion. I thought about the play-off defeats long and hard but you let it go eventually and turn your mind to the job ahead of you.
"We're going into a tough league and if we prepare properly and get focused on what's in front of us then I think we can do really well at that level."
As he assessed the make-up of the Championship for the 2010-11 season, Howson found himself singing from the same hymn sheet as his manager, Simon Grayson, who suggested yesterday that Leeds would be one of no fewer than 12 clubs who would feel confident of making a credible attempt to qualify for the play-offs.
Howson has experienced the Championship before, albeit briefly, under Dennis Wise, the first coach to show confidence in the midfielder's ability. Wise gave Howson his league debut on December 23, 2006 and used him a further eight times before withdrawing him for the final stages of an increasingly fraught season.
In the years since, Howson has made more than 100 outings for United's first team and established himself as the leading appearance maker in a squad which has changed constantly. Grayson has relied on him consistently and might do so again next season, despite his plan to strengthen the pool of central midfielders available to him.
Howson said he had improved as a player since he last appeared in the Championship and the contract extension earned by him as a result of Leeds' promotion will potentially offer him another two seasons with United in that division.
"I feel I've developed since I played there last so I'm really looking forward to going back," he said. "I just want to get started now.
"We're going up a level but with Leeds you always have expectation of high standards, no matter what division or game you're playing in.
"Maybe the pressure's not quite as high as last season because we were the biggest club in League One and, with no disrespect to anyone else, we were always the favourites to go up, bar the season when we had the 15-point deduction.
"We might not have the expectation of automatic promotion but we'll be expected to give a good account of ourselves. I think we've got the squad to get up towards the top six and I'm sure the manager will bring in two or three more signings.
"There's no team I'm looking at and thinking 'they'll definitely go up' like people did with Newcastle last season.
"A lot of clubs seem to be at a similar level. Odds don't make a difference as we saw with Blackpool – they were joint favourites to go down and ended up getting promoted. It's anyone's game."
Leeds begin their season at home to Derby County, coincidentally the last club that Howson played against in the Championship and an immediate test of their potential will come a week later against Nottingham Forest, one of last season's play-off semi-finalists.
Grayson would not expect his squad to repeat the form shown at the beginning of their 2009-10 campaign, when six straight wins and 12 matches without defeat gave them control of League One, but Howson said a consistent start would be an essential step towards avoiding trouble in the lower reaches of the division.
He said: "If we get a start a bit like last season then who knows what could happen?
"We're a young, hungry side!"
Yorkshire Evening Post 1/7/10
Whites launch talent search
By Phil Hay
Leeds United are casting their eye over the younger ranks of the Premier League as manager Simon Grayson weighs up possible loan signings before the start of the Championship term.
Grayson has revealed that he is interested in pursuing the type of deal which brought teenager Sanchez Watt to Elland Road on a temporary basis last season.
Watt left Arsenal for a six-week stay with Leeds during the closing stages of their League One campaign and the 19-year-old could emerge as a transfer target again having impressed over the course of six appearances.
Grayson is attempting to identify potential options after embracing to the idea of strengthening his squad with young talent sourced from the Premier League, a strategy which also secured striker Sam Vokes, from Wolverhampton Wanderers last term.
Grayson said: "I think that's something we'll be looking at again. It's an avenue we and other teams have taken in the past and I'd be stupid not to see what's available to me.
"We had Sanchez Watt here last season and he made a really good contribution. He impressed us and he's an example of the sort of talent you can find in the Premier League.
"It's often be a win-win situation for everyone because the players get the opportunity to come out and play football and you benefit from their talent.
"We're looking at what's out there and these sort of deals often happen later in the summer but it's not a path I'm afraid to go down."
Watt came to Leeds in the last hours of the Football League's emergency loan window and he made his only start in United's 4-1 rout of MK Dons a fortnight before the end of the term. His other five appearances came as a substitute. The winger planned to fight for a place in Arsenal's plans this summer but he is on the very fringes of Arsene Wenger's first-team squad and the London club may be happy to release him on a temporary deal again if Leeds decide to renew their interest in Watt.
Wenger has made a habit of sending Arsenal's younger prospects for spells in the lower leagues and Grayson believes other Premier League managers will do the same this summer, with many Championship clubs more than happy to take up available options.
"I doubt whether we're the only club in the Championship thinking about this," Grayson said. "There isn't a lot of money around at the moment and everyone will be casting their net as wide as possible.
"That's not to say we aren't trying to make more permanent signings because we are, but you can't ignore the value of loans from the Premier League."
Leeds have struck four permanent deals since the end of last season, bringing in keeper Kasper Schmeichel, defenders Federico Bessone and Paul Connolly and striker Billy Paynter.