Under the current dictatorship regime the head coach is comfortably abstracted from the financial side of the club. He’s to focus on the playing squad while El Presidente and whatever delicate flowers are appointed in key roles get to handle the business side of things. With uncertainty surrounding Redders, am I mad for suggesting we’re better off financially with him?

I don’t mean now, because our club accounts paint quite a pretty picture indeed. I don’t mean a beautiful meadow or a Turner seascape sadly, but something that more resembles Katie Hopkins nude on the Sulferous slopes of Mount Doom, with the watchful eye of Cellino Sauron searching for hobbits. Before I start accusing Lewis Cook and Chris Dawson of being Hobbits, let’s move on. The point I’m making isn’t about our current financial health, not at all, it’s about investment and commercial wealth from what Redders can bring.

Academy conveyor belt of quality

Neil has been working with the academy for a long while now; he’s nurtured the lads and brought them through to the first team when they were ready. Consider how much Lewis Cook is worth today, and consider what he’ll be worth in 12 months time if he continues like this. Extrapolate the same things for Alex Mowatt and Charlie Taylor. Then consider that Lewis Walters, Kalvin Phillips and Chris Dawson are looming. These are players who, if they take their chances, could be worth a lot of money.

Rumour is that Cellino values Cook at around £12m, Mowatt at £6-8m and there haven’t been figured banded around for Byram and Taylor. So in just those two young midfielders there’s almost £20m of value. Not that I’m suggesting we sell them, not at all, my point is that to replace like-with-like, you’d have to spend an absurd amount of money.

How much would Sam Byram cost you on the open market? How much would it cost you to buy Jonny Howson now and then consider what Mowatt might be worth at a point in the future. Commercially it makes sense to leverage the academy, not so that we can sell them for profit (which will happen if we don’t progress as a club), but because it’s a FAR more cost effective way of getting quality players.

It’s how Barcelona work; nurture the youth, get them playing together and familiar with a style of play, that way it’s more seamless when they integrate into the first team. That’s a model we should look at.

But how does that hinge on Redders?

Because he knows the lads, the lads know him and he actually plays them. Dave Hockaday was prepared to sell Alex Mowatt, a player who has become our shining light this season. It matters because a different coach might not leverage the academy, they might favour whatever Serie B players they’re given. So instead of bringing talented youngsters through who could later be invaluable to Leeds or (sadly, but being pragmatic) be sold for huge profit, we’d be playing whoever we have on loan, whoever we manage to sign on the cheap?

Let’s look at it with harsh realism. Bellusci and Doukara were our two biggest signings, both at over €1m, these are considered marque signings at the level we’re at. Then compare the fact that Lewis Cook is worth 10 times that. Luke Murphy cost £1m and was an unthinkable sum of money at the time, but he’s worth less on the transfer market than Alex Mowatt.

The reason why Neil is important is because he facilitates the growth and first-team involvement of these assets. Ignoring the footballing side for a moment, Neil’s decision to focus play around Cook and Mowatt has added £15m to their value this season. That’s a very good return on two players. I’d imagine we’ll have words to say about Phillips and Taylor this time next year too.

Compare Cook to Bianchi, similar positionally but worlds apart in quality. Imagine if Lewis wasn’t played because Benedicic hadn’t gotten injured, or Ngoyi was signed earlier. Neil knows how to use the academy and there’s an enormous commercial wealth there.

It’s just a case of looking at what lies in the academy and how much those players could be worth. You can guarantee that Bianchi won’t have increased in value after 12 months around the Leeds first team, but Cook has. Mowatt has. Hell, let’s look at Phillips in 11 months. This isn’t about their value when selling them, but how it’s smarter financially to utilise the academy. The players you end up selling will go for big sums and the ones you keep are worth far more than the signings you can afford to make.

But then that’s just me. I’m pragmatic enough that I’m able to look beyond the footballing side of the game to the financial element too, and it’s simple from my perspective. Having a head coach who will add £5-10m to the squad’s value every season or two is a far, far more sustainable, scalable method than ever thinking Leeds would invest that in raw cash.

So even if we are to be a selling club, we’ll make a lot more money having a coach who adds value.

You can buy a midfielder for £1m and sell him for £1.5m, or you can bring through a youngster and sell them for £5m. If we needed to make money I know which methodology I’d back. Not that I want us to sell our academy players, so look at it this way, we could have 5 academy players in the first team each worth £5m or we could have 5 journeymen, loanees or Serie B freebees worth not even £5m between them.

No brainer for me. Your move, Massimo.