Leeds United ex-owner Radrizzani served unfamiliar Elland Road experience — Graham Smyth's Burnley Verdict — YEP 2/5/26

By Graham Smyth

The Verdict on Leeds United’s hugely important 3-1 victory against Burnley at Elland Road is in.

Welcome back Andrea Radrizzani, this is not the Leeds United you might remember.

The visit of relegated Burnley coincided with the first visit to Elland Road of the club's former chairman since Leeds were relegated under his ownership.

The Italian sold up to then-minority shareholders 49ers Enterprises and Paraag Marathe stepped into the role of chairman.

The grand old ground hasn't changed much and many of the songs are the same, but what Radrizzani saw in the Burnley game might not have been wildly familiar.

Under the 'new' regime Leeds' recruitment has mirrored the general running of the club. Mostly sensible stuff. A plan that can be followed and understood by supporters.

Take Jaka Bijol, for example. A centre-back big and strong enough to cope with the physical difficulty level of the Premier League, a bar that seems to be set higher and higher in recent seasons.

But a centre-back who can look up and pick a beauty of a pass through lines, like the one that gave Anton Stach the time and space to pick his spot from distance and drill in an eighth-minute opener against Burnley.

Right back in Bijol's first days at the club Farke asked reporters to show him a centre-back more reliable with his passing and this assist was a delayed exclamation point on that remark.

Prior to the Elland Road visit of Burnley, Spurs were just six points behind the Whites with 12 to play for and eyeing a massive home game against Leeds on May 11.

Burnley of course were relegated and as of Thursday, without manager Scott Parker.

Losing to them and granting Spurs an opportunity to move to within three was unthinkable, but stranger things have happened in football and at this club in the not-so-distant past.

Games against Burnley in the last two seasons have been largely joyless affairs, for Leeds more so than the Clarets. Their defensive stubbornness has proved problematic and made the first goal all-important. Stach's powerful and perfectly precise ping pecked the post and put Leeds in the driving seat. It calmed the underlying nerves around Elland Road.

This season Stach has proved himself to be another astute bit of business from the people who brought you Bijol. A giant midfielder with toes that can twinkle, he strikes a ball beautifully from distance.

In the early minutes against Burnley he was as much of a menace on the ball as he was off it, his long strides taking him thundering after defenders as they tried to play out. His presence and the pressure was often too much for Burnley and led to a ball pumped forward or out of play. His performance was a shining light in what was admittedly a pretty humdrum but comfortable first half for the hosts.

Even if a club's recruitment team do their job and find jewels like Stach and Bijol, and the manager puts them to good use, there are always uncontrollables. Like the opposition and the officials.

Under caretaker boss Michael Jackson Burnley did their bit to spoil, sitting in with a back five and throwing up the same compact block Parker used so effectively against Farke in previous meetings. By fair means or by foul they stopped Leeds however they could.

Referee Thomas Bramall's utterly bewildering performance did little to help matters. What constituted a foul or a yellow card became a guessing game and not a particularly fun one. It remained 1-0 at the break and Elland Road needed more convincing.

Step forward Noah Okafor, again. Six times in seven games, during the most high-pressure portion of the season to boot, the Swiss international has put the ball in the net for Leeds.

Even with the presence of AC Milan on his CV there was a hint of a punt about his recruitment, because there were injury concerns and end product did not exactly flow in Serie A. He scored seven in 43 Italian top flight games.

He now has eight in 28 outings in what his manager describes as the 'best league in the world' and can safely be described as a calculated punt that worked out just how Leeds hoped and believed he could. Those goals have been instrumental in easing the threat of relegation in recent weeks.

Scoring early in the second half was exactly what the situation called for and it was a beauty. Dominic Calvert-Lewin intercepted the ball, drove it deep into Burnley territory and produced a cute back heel for Jayden Bogle to run onto. The right-back's cross was perfect for Okafor and his finish screamed 'man in form.' Sidefoot, into the ground, into the net, into a 2-0 lead.

And when you have an already-relegated side down, putting a foot on the throat to keep them there is the mark of a side capable of staying in this division.

Ethan Ampadu's long throw caused problems, Ao Tanaka's driven shot was well saved but Calvert-Lewin was in the right place to poke home his 12th of the campaign. As free transfers go, he hasn't been a bad one.

Analysis of this season's Premier League clubs' injury records showed Spurs at the wrong end of the table and Leeds at the right end with the fewest matches missed by players with issues. There was evidently more than just hope in Leeds' plan to make Calvert-Lewin, a player with more than his fair share of injuries, their main man up top.

To their credit, Burnley made it interesting, scoring twice. One didn't count thanks to a tight offside, but one did. Loum Tchaouna pounced on a slightly clumsy touch by Pascal Struijk to hammer past Karl Darlow. The tinge of nerves in the subsequent quiet around Elland Road was something Radrizzani will likely recall well. There may have been some flashbacks.

But as the Clarets huffed and puffed, finally showing some attacking endeavour and putting balls into the Leeds box, Darlow was a well protected man. If another goal was to be scored it was likelier to be at the other end, but Calvert-Lewin failed to find fellow free signing Lukas Nmecha, who was completely free in the middle.

Dan James, the protagonist on one of Radrizzani and co's most emotionally fraught deadline days - and there were a few - failed to find the net when played in by Sean Longstaff. And eight minutes of time added on failed to produce another goal for either side.

Elland Road celebrated the full-time whistle like a stadium that is already looking forward to Premier League football next season. To go down with 43 points has never been done before in the Premier League. It was only done once in history, in the old First Division.

It will not be done by this Leeds United team because they are insulated from ever getting too high or too low by their ever-even manager. They can be relied upon to be competitive enough in the final three games to duke it out for a position comfortably outside the relegation zone.

Radrizzani celebrated top flight survival once too. Under his ownership Leeds finished ninth in the top flight, a feat that is and will always be held up as remarkable.

In truth it was largely thanks to Marcelo Bielsa and how he transformed players. Then things started to fall apart, most notably on the recruitment and investment front. His presence at Elland Road for this game served as a reminder of the past but this club, if it spends, recruits and operates as it has so far under the 49ers, is one that should only be looking forward.