Former Leeds United and England goalkeeper Paul Robinson has suggested that the Whites have handled things very well off the field over the last few months, and insisted that he believes they will go on to earn promotion.

Marcelo Bielsa’s side have faced an uncertain period over the last few months following the suspension to the Championship season, but Leeds can now look to continue their push for automatic promotion when the campaign finally gets back up and running again next weekend.

The Whites hold a seven-point cushion over third placed Fulham with just nine matches left to play, and they have been able to have the comfort of knowing that if the season had been ended and a points-per game system was used they would have clinched promotion – and now they have to finish the job on the field over the next few weeks.

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Speaking to MOT Leeds News, Robinson suggested that the Whites have managed to handle the situation off the field very well amid some sides being in favour of ending the campaign, and he insisted that Bielsa’s side will have enough to secure promotion in the next nine games.

He said: “This is a once-in-a-lifetime event hopefully. It’s not ideal for anyone but this isn’t the norm and everyone has to get on with it, It’s making the best of a bad situation.

“Angus Kinnear has said a couple of things that have been sensible and the way they’ve been through this has been admirable.

“By the time the season starts it looks like there will be a clean bill of health hopefully and I’d expect Leeds to go on and win promotion.”

The verdict

Robinson is right to commend the way that the Whites have handled things off the field over the last few nervy months, with the club saying the right things and preparing correctly off the field for the potential restart of the campaign.

Now the season is set to restart next week and that preparation and focus should put the Whites in a strong position to make sure that they get themselves over the line in the race for automatic promotion, and as Robinson suggests you would expect them to see the job through.

While these circumstances have been far from ideal for anyone chasing promotion, it would still represent a real achievement for Leeds to come through it and get themselves back in the Premier League for the start of next season.