Jack Harrison believes that Leeds United boss Marcelo Bielsa was against the curtailment of the season and winning promotion on sporting merit.
Leeds are preparing for the Championship’s resume this weekend, with Bielsa’s side in action Sunday afternoon as they travel to Cardiff City to take on the Bluebirds.
The nine game run-in offers Leeds the chance to convert a table-topping position into Premier League football.
Quiz: The tricky 8-question Leeds United trivia quiz: Can you get 8/8?
They will be offered the chance to win promotion the ‘proper way’, which at one time seemed unlikely and a promotion on Points Per Game was touted.
However, Leeds have maintained that they wanted to continue, with Harrison revealing that wasn’t just the stance of the playing squad, it was also what Bielsa wanted.
As quoted by the Yorkshire Evening Post, Harrison stated: "I get the sensation [from Bielsa] that if they'd cancelled the season and figured things out that way it wouldn't have been quite as rewarding, as great a feeling as if we earned it.
“That's the sensation I get.
“We want to finish these nine games not only to prove to ourselves but to everyone else that we deserve it. We don't want to be just given it. He's always working on being morally right; doing the right thing and it's a credit to him and how he emits that throughout the team. We all like to follow his lead, that's what we're doing as a squad.”
The run-in begins with Cardiff on Sunday, then Leeds are forced with a week break as they prepare for Fulham’s visit to Elland Road.
Then, Bielsa’s side will play weekend and midweek fixtures back-to-back until the season concludes.
The Verdict
Bielsa is the type of man you can imagine would’ve had this stance on the curtailment of the season and PPG.
Nobody at Leeds wanted to win promotion to the Premier League in that way and that’s not going to be the case now.
Leeds will be focused on hitting the ground running at Cardiff and not letting this brilliant opportunity pass them by.
Thoughts? Let us know!
Missing football!? There's still plenty of Leeds discussion going on in the Vital Leeds Forum! Click here to get involved!