Let’s Ram It Down Peoples’ Throats – Former Leeds United Boss Urges Whites’ Siege Mentality | OneFootball

Former Leeds United manager Simon Grayson has insisted that the Whites players must feel galvanised by the fact that they are being written off ahead of the playoffs.

Leeds scored a record haul of 90 points for a side finishing third in the Championship and missed out on automatic promotion.

A run of one win in their last five Championship games derailed their automatic promotion hopes and they will now take on Norwich City in a two-legged playoff semi-final.

Leeds’ record in the playoffs is poor and they were beaten by Derby County in the semi-finals in 2019.

Their form has made many pundits doubt their chances of getting promoted despite their points haul, but Grayson feels that should be the galvanising element for the Leeds players.

He insisted that Daniel Farke and the senior Leeds players must develop a siege mentality and urge the team to go out and prove everyone wrong by winning the playoffs.

The former Whites boss said on BBC Radio Leeds: “Everybody wanted automatic promotion, but football and life are not that simple, you have to go through highs and lows.

“This season has seen plenty of highs and it can finish on a high as well.

“This is a young group who have been very consistent, apart from the last month of the season and if you are being critical that’s where it has really mattered, but they have got a second opportunity.

“That’s got to be the message from Daniel and the senior players, ‘right we are being written off, everyone is talking negative about us’, from outside Elland Road and the city where people are saying Leeds have bottled it.

“Let’s go and ram it down people’s throats and say, ‘The world is against us, nobody wants us to go to the Premier League so let’s stick together and go and show what we are capable of doing’.”

Leeds will travel to Carrow Road a week from Sunday to take on Norwich City in the first leg of their playoff semi-final.