'What they need to do' — Finance expert explains how Leeds United can get established in Premier League — Yorkshire Post 16/4/26

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By Tom Coates

Football finance expert lays out how Leeds United can get themselves established in the Premier League

Leeds United have been told what they need to in order to become established in the Premier League by a football finance expert.

When clubs secure promotion to the promised land, matching the quality of clubs who are established there often proves tricky.

In recent years, the worrying trend of promoted clubs going straight back down has shone a light on the significant financial disparity between England’s top two tiers.

Daniel Farke was given funds to bolster his ranks last summer, yet the money he was afforded pales in comparison to what was spent by many of the club’s rivals.

Football finance expert on Leeds United

Speaking to Football Insider, former Manchester City adviser Stefan Borson has claimed a gradual increase of the wage bill following each season of survival is the way to go.

He said: “The challenge really is, can they stay in the Premier League for a while? Can they stop being that yo-yo club and start to have two, three or four seasons in the Premier League, but also at the same time managing that wage bill, which is of course the hardest challenge for all these teams. Can you continue to succeed on the pitch while keeping the wage bill under control?

“We know that lots of clubs have really made a choice and gone down a route where they say ‘look, either we’re going to invest heavily on the wage bill and gamble, or we’re going to be very reserved on the wage bill and accept that we’re probably going to get relegated straight away. We’ll try and do that three or four times, and then in five, six, seven years’ time, we’ll start investing more’. That’s just not going to work for Leeds United.

“What they need to do is just somehow try and put a few seasons together, then start to gradually increase the wage spend, which is a good proxy for where you’re going to finish and hope also that one or two of the relegation places are taken by clearly inferior teams.”

Making life easier

If Leeds can stay afloat this term, they will have cleared a rather significant psychological hurdle. They will have bucked a trend seen in recent years and will be less vulnerable to vultures circling for key players.

Borson said: “If they survive this season, they’ll be looking down and going ‘well, we really should be finishing above Coventry next season. Who else is going to come up? Who’s the team coming up through the play-offs? Can we fluke it that a team come up that’s going to be clearly not good enough next season?’.

“It makes life a lot easier because all of sudden you’re talking about one relegation place, not three. That’s the balance they’ve got to do, but staying in the Premier League for them is obviously key.”

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