Morning Leeds-in for 25 May: Paraag Marathe wants to take Leeds back where we belong

Well, this is a pretty good sign.

New Leeds board member Paraag Marathe wants to help Leeds get back to where the club belongs, back in the Premier League.

Marathe had this to say about the links between Leeds and the 49ers:

The San Francisco 49ers are one of the most prominent franchises in all of professional sports and certainly in the NFL. “Similar to Leeds, we have a storied history with a lot of Hall of Fame players and we’re right in the middle of building a foundation and getting the 49ers back to where they belong, which is the top of the NFL. That’s why I see a lot of similarities to what is happening at Leeds, of getting back to where Leeds United belong.

I’ve got to know Andrea over several years. It started out just sharing ideas and talking about what he does at Leeds and what I do at the 49ers. There was a kinship there, a personal and professional kinship, and we thought there were a lot of things we could do to help each other. We started to dive in and get involved.

There’s a lot of learning we do at the NFL that we can bring over to England. At the end of the day, this isn’t rocket science. Professional sport is professional sport. You’re trying to take smart ideas and apply them somewhere else and turn teams into winners

Hopefully this is the start of something much bigger that can help translate into better outcomes on the pitch as well as on the balance sheet for Leeds. It’s all well and good to get more money, but unless it results in better performances on the pitch, it’s not gonna matter much for fans.

On to the links.

Leeds United Links

The club made the investment from the 49ers official yesterday. [Through It All Together]

What the SBNation San Francisco 49ers site had to say about the investment. [Niners Nation]

Leeds United’s support of the Leeds Pride festival is a good thing. [Through It All Together]

England and English Football Links

Everton defender Leighton Baines will not move to the LA Galaxy, despite interest from the MLS club. [Royal Blue Mersey]

Everyone else is doing it, why can’t we? A look at the links between the NFL and English Football. [Yorkshire Evening Post]

Mauricio Pochettino has signed a new contract with Tottenham Hotspur. [The Guardian]

World Football Links

Mexico will play the United States in a friendly in September, which is bound to be the most important date for the US Men’s team, as they missed the World Cup. [FMF State of Mind]

Chivas de Guadalajara forward Rodolfo Pizarro has an offer from Europe and is likely to leave Liga MX this summer. [ESPN.com]

Racing Club striker Lautaro Martinez has arrived in Italy to finalize a deal to Inter Milan. [Football-Italia.net]