In April, when Humpty Dumpty sat on our walls he was unveiled as the vibrant, talented manager that could end the Warnock mentality of 'turn up, launch it hard a few times, and who knows? We could win'. McDermott got us playing football again and consequently we won three of McDermott's five games in charge last year, including the important win over Sheffield Wednesday. This summer, a big cloud loomed over Leeds United, with fans having very little confidence in GFH's ability to fund a promotion charge, despite them making positive moves in removing Bates and attempting to re-engage with fans. This wasn't helped by the board's prolonged period of silence and what seemed like a very scripted Q&A with Salah Nooruddin on the club's website throwing more reasons to doubt the possibility of leaving this god-awful league.
However, a new chapter arrived with the departure of Ken Bates in a week that saw Leeds add Noel Hunt to the squad alongside the club's first 7-figure signing since the early days of the Bates regime, in Crewe midfielder Luke Murphy. They were joined by Oldham striker Matt Smith who had become McDermott's first signing three weeks previously. Positivity was awash on the social network with fans expecting more through the door, with Gary Mackay-Steven and Matt Mills, the main focus of Leeds fans' attention.
With just four sleeps until the start of the season and the transfer window reaching it's halfway point, we've signed a grand total of zero more players since the arrival of Noel Hunt. Now, call me Mr Panicky Poo, but the pre-season defeats have exposed room for improvement, which, according to McDermott, we can't afford to fund. Unless we play with a diamond formation, we need more (quality) signings to stop another year going down the pan.
For anyone wondering, I would have them playing 4-1-2-1-2 with this line-up:
GK: Kenny
LB: Warnock
CB: Austin
CB: Lees
RB: Byram
DM: Murphy
LM: Poleon
RM: Green
AM: McCormack
ST: Hunt
ST: Smith
Josh Townend
Twitter-@townendofficial