English Football League / Ralph Ellis / 09 April 2009 / Leave a Comment

Easter means chocolate eggs and big games - and while the Premier League might have scrapped the traditional programme it's a mega busy holiday weekend in the Coca Cola League. Betfair went to meet Leeds boss Simon Grayson to hear his thoughts...

Hi Simon - thanks for sparing us some time because we know you're pretty busy.

Absolutely, we got back from drawing at Leyton Orient at 5am on Wednesday and we're getting ready to play again. To be honest it's brilliant. This is the traditional time that things get sorted out and it will be the same this year with only three or four games left after Easter is over. These are critical matches and it tests your squad. If you have any sort of ambitions of getting promoted - or staying out of relegation come to that - you have to get some points from this period. By Monday tea time there will still be one or two things to be decided but the whole picture will be clearer. I think it's great - players love appearing in big matches and I see no reason why they can't play Saturday and then again on Monday

You're a traditionalist then?

Yes, I like the Boxing Day fixtures and another one straight after too. I used to love that as a player. It obviously helps if you have a decent squad that you can change things around, but as a player all you want to do is play. Two games in three days was a great thing, all the fans are off work as well so you get big crowds and a special atmosphere.

All the more so for you because you go to Leicester on Monday. Just how did those two clubs end up in League One?

Good question - how long have you got for an answer? It would take at least three weeks! For me it's just amazing that my first game in charge of Leeds on Boxing Day was against Leicester where we had 33,000 at Elland Road. It was such a strange day as the new manager here but against a team where I had six years as a player. Now we go back to this fixture on Monday and we both need points. They need them to secure automatic promotion, and we need them to cement a place in the play-offs. It's got all the ingredients, hasn't it?

As you say you started at Leeds at Christmas. How do you feel it's gone so far?

Well, when you move into any new job there's always going to be some sort of problems, but I looked at the squad we had, and I think it was a fair assumption that the players had under-achieved. We've had to go in and change things around slightly, and get our own ideas and philosophies across. But then full credit to the players who have responded to that, and I'm really enjoying it. It's a big football club, with a fantastic fan base and great facilities, and the results are starting to come. At the moment we're beginning to produce exactly what the players should have been achieving all season, really.

Nobody would have needed to tell you how big a club it is, but has becoming manager been an eye-opener all the same?

Well I'm a Leeds supporter, and I was here as a young kid until I was 21, so I knew what it was all about, but even then it probably hits home when you realise you are going to places like Colchester and Leyton Orient, as we've done in the last week, and you have three or four thousand away fans each time. That is just unbelievable, fanatical support especially on a midweek night with big distances to travel. The fans are there for you all the time. We had 28,000 at home against MK Dons, and our average support is probably the third or fourth highest in the whole of the Football League. It shows you what it's all about and while there are a lot of big clubs around, this is a VERY big club.

You mention you started your career at Elland Road, and only played twice, so is there a bit of unfinished business for you?

I wouldn't call it that really. It's just how football happens. In those days there was only one substitute so probably in the same circumstances now I'd have played more. But it was still a great learning curve for me. When I was an apprentice and became a young pro I was working under Howard Wilkinson and then Billy Bremner, and the experience you got from those managers, and also from the likes of Gordon Strachan, Gary McAllister, and Tony Dorigo who were players then, lasts forever. I had to move on to play some football which was why I went to Leicester and my career took care of itself after that. But I still think the grounding here was what set me up both for playing and later for managing.

You've had two very contrasting jobs with Blackpool where you were a small club swimming against the tide and now Leeds where you are the big fish in a smaller pond. What are the differences you've found since moving?

You're not wrong - five years ago Leeds were in the Champions League semi-finals and Blackpool near the bottom of League One. But the basis of both jobs is actually quite alike because you have to challenge yourself to improve the club every day just the same. It was a challenge on a regular basis at Blackpool trying to get the best out of what you had, and finding the right ones to bring in, but now it's a different type of pressure. You have all the facilities and the trappings that come with Leeds, but you have got to then get the results and get a successful team going because nothing but winning is good enough.

How hard is it to get players to deal with the expectation? We always hear the likes of Manchester United or Chelsea talk about needing players who can handle high demands, is it a similar challenge for Leeds in League One?

That's definitely fair. I've said from day one when I came in that you have to be a special player because of the expectancy level, and what comes of playing in front of 20,000 people every week. When you have that many people in League One, and you are going round the length and breadth of the country, you have to be able to perform and the fans are entitled to have their say whether it is positive or negative, and the players have to respond to it. It's a two way thing. If we are doing well and the fans see the players giving their all they will back you to the hilt.

You can definitely sense a different atmosphere now within the team but also at Elland Road. It was a nervous place for my first couple of games because results weren't good, but now it's a good place to play because we are wining games at home, playing good football, but also getting more crowds as well. I've just told the players: 'You have to deal with those pressures, and if you can't, well you can always go and play for another club in front of four or five thousand fans where the expectancy isn't as high.'

Your brother Paul is head coach at Essex County cricket club. Can you help each other?

We do actually. In fact when we were down in Colchester last Friday we did a question and answer thing with a lot of Leeds fans, and I met up with Paul and he did it with us. We sort of throw ideas around - as it happens we've just got a sports psychology coach in for the last couple of months who has worked with Jeremy Snape, who in turn has worked with Paul for the last 15 months. We have different ideas and give advice to each other, although there's some stick flying around too!

So how does that work - does he help you improve Jermaine Beckford's bowling action?!

Don't be cheeky!! Of course there are different types of physical conditioning for football and cricket, but the man management of players is a big part in both just the same. You have to be able to get the best from what's available, and we are always swapping ideas around on that and discussing different views on how to get the best out of them. You can always learn from other sports.

Thanks for your time and good luck for promotion - we've a free £50 bet in aid of a favourite charity.

That can go to the Multiple Sclerosis Society. And as we've been talking about Paul I'll back Essex at [6.0] to win division two of the County Championship. They are a big club that should be in the top flight too.

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