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It’s too early to talk of Leeds United and the “P” word right now

Don’t let the hype surrounding the team take away from how far the club has come off the pitch this summer

Nottingham Forest v Leeds United - Sky Bet Championship Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images

Hold on, everyone, let’s not get too excited right now.

Yes, Leeds United look like world beaters right now.

Yes, they are coming off a 5-0 dismantling of Burton Albion that could easily have been 10-0.

But this talk of “promotion” is distracting. Leeds have played exactly six matches in the Championship right now. Six. There are 40 matches left, and it’s barely September. This feels like a totally different Leeds United team to the ones that missed out on promotion last year after falling out of the playoffs with a dire run of form, but it’s still to early to think about things like “promotion” at a time like this.

I know it’s fun to be excited. It’s fun to root for Leeds at a time like this. Lord knows the team hasn’t given fans much to be excited about for more than a decade. But everything good that has gone on at the club this summer needs to be separated from the results on the pitch.

The new owner, Andrea Radrizzani, has (finally) brought the club forward into the 21st century by hiring competent people to run the football side of things. He’s also brought in good people on the business side of things. You can now see matches streamed all over the world from Elland Road, and new artwork and a stadium refresh is sprucing up the ground as well. Oh, and he spent a whole bunch of money to buy the ground back as well.

But if things start to go south, tying the results with the good things will sour people on the changes at the club and fans will start ignoring all of the good work that has happened at Leeds. Leeds is finally being run like a proper football team after years of circus clown antics at the top.

The team is playing brilliantly. But it’s far too early to speak of “promotion” at this point in time. Of course if Leeds are top two at Christmas, by all means, get excited!