It would be considered a failure if Leeds United do not get promoted to the Premier League this season but it was not that long ago the Whites were stuck in Championship mid-table mediocrity.
Up until the arrival of Marcelo Bielsa in 2018, the very best Leeds could hope for was a push to finish in the top six, and apart from the 2016/17 season under Garry Monk, it never came close to happening.
Leeds had struggled both on and off the pitch for a number of years with owners such as Ken Bates, GFH Capital and Massimo Cellino almost turning the club into a laughing stock again. That is despite the latter recently coming out and saying how much he loves the club.
With all that in mind, it is fair to say investment into the team did not come often. Luke Murphy’s arrival from Crewe Alexandra was the first time Leeds spent over £1 million a player since Richard Cresswell in 2005.
Though Leeds were still one of the biggest clubs in the Championship, the turbulence at the time will have made it difficult to attract players, and defender Conor Coady has revealed exactly that.
Speaking on the ‘Inside the Game Podcast‘, Coady shared how he had two offers to leave Liverpool in 2014 – Leeds and Huddersfield. He says former Reds boss Brendan Rodgers told him to sign for the latter, due to the ‘tough’ time at Elland Road.
Coady shares why he rejected Leeds move
He said: “The day before we were coming home Brendan pulled me for a chat and he said we have a couple of options for you – Leeds and Huddersfield.
“He gave me some advice at the time about going to Huddersfield, Leeds were going through a tough time at the time, all different things, so the next day he said I could go to Huddersfield and he sorted that for me.”
At the time, Leeds were still really getting back on their feet even 10 years later from the huge financial mess that saw them relegated two divisions in four seasons. Aaron Lennon and Rio Ferdinand recently shared stories about just how bad it was.
At the time, Coady had only had one proper year in professional football at Sheffield United and so he was the type of player Leeds had to target at the time. No one knew the type of career he would go onto enjoy.
Coady only ended up spending one season at Huddersfield before moving to Wolves a year later, where he undoubtedly enjoyed the best period of his career.
He went onto make over 300 appearances for Wolves, as well as playing 10 times for England. It would’ve been interesting to see how his career played out if he moved to Elland Road.
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