It was the BBC who caved in first last season. With Leeds United under the new ownership of Andrea Radrizzani and Thomas Christiansen installed as the club’s replacement for Garry Monk, they won six and drew two of their first nine Championship matches. ‘Leeds United: Are Championship leaders finally set for Premier League return?’ asked BBC Sport on September 25. It was the headline to an article written by their chief football writer.

The following day, Leeds conceded twice and had a man sent off in the space of 18 first-half minutes against Cardiff City, promptly suffered a 3-1 defeat and then lost five of their next six league games and were knocked out of the EFL Cup. Having travelled to south Wales as the Championship leaders, Leeds never broke back into the automatic promotion positions and finished in the bottom half, 15 points off the play-offs. Welcome to Leeds United, the club that specialises in making you look stupid and themselves look worse.

Another year on, and similar articles are being prepared again. Life is never dull at Elland Road, so what better manager to ensure the madness continues than El Loco? Marcelo Bielsa’s career had fallen on hard enough times that he accepted his good fortune to land the Leeds job, but he has already started to prove his worth. Leeds have won each of their first three games of the season, and on Saturday humiliated Frank Lampard’s Derby County at the iPro Stadium.

“Everyone is happy because that’s the way we want to play. We want to be aggressive and pressure for 90 minutes,” said Leeds’ Polish midfielder Mateusz Klich after the game. “I’ve never had such a good start to the season, and I just hope it keeps going like this. He teaches us about football every day. His way of football fits everyone.”

As the BBC may care to remind you, it would be foolish to get giddy in August. Bielsa’s brand of football comes with notorious demands of high-intensity pressing that can lead to fatigue in his players. With a smaller squad than he would like after sluggish summer investment, Bielsa’s ability to maintain Leeds’ form during the relentless repetition of Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday-Tuesday will be severely tested through the winter. Those expecting the manager to adapt to the circumstance may be unaware of Bielsa’s stubbornness. Dogmatism has its disadvantages; just ask Lazio and Lille.

– – – – – – – – – –

Leeds United enjoy – and endure – an unusual position within English football culture. They are recognised by most supporters aged over 30 as a pillar of the sport, despite their recent malaise and a relative paucity of trophies (Leeds have won half as many titles as Sunderland and 23 clubs have won more FA Cups). Alongside Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesbrough, Leeds are one of the grand old clubs of the north, the pride of one-club cities where the football stadium is a cathedral. All four are forced to look back towards distant memories of glory more often than they can look forward to the future.

And yet unlike the aforementioned three or any other club in their part of the world, Leeds are generally disliked. The physicality of Don Revie’s side in the 1970s established the ‘Dirty Leeds’ moniker that still sticks, while the hooliganism problem of the 70s and 80s saw Leeds as the principal culprits outside of London. Hatred has now blurred into pantomime villainy, but the terrace taunts towards Leeds supporters remain. And who doesn’t enjoy booing the pantomime villain?

The timing and prevalence of the ‘Are Leeds back?’ articles are significant, for no other non-Premier League club generates such national interest. Leeds finally threatening a meaningful resurgence asks questions of football supporters to which there are no easy – or comfortable – answers. Is it good for English football? Should we want them to get promoted? And why do we hate ourselves for it?

In terms of merit, there is no argument. Leeds have failed to even finish in the Championship’s top six since 2006, and we have a league table structure that fairly accurately measures where a football club ‘deserves’ to be. Leeds were plunged into such financial disarray by the mismanagement of Peter ‘Icarus’ Risdale that there is a detailed Wikipedia page created in their dishonour, but they are still incapable of fully escaping self-sabotage. It is as if Leeds suffer from a Stockholm syndrome relationship with farce. Is this where Tomas Brolin (snugly) fits in?

But there is no doubt that Leeds remain a big draw. Last season, over 40% of their league matches were broadcast live on Sky Sports and only eight of their 23 away games were played at 3pm on a Saturday. Under previous owner Massimo Cellino, the club threatened to ban broadcasters as a protest at the number of matches moved for television coverage. When Leeds roll into town, so does the circus.

The club’s support remains prodigious. Leeds’ away following is amongst the most numerous and vocal in the country, and the home attendance averaged at over 31,500 last season. Only Aston Villa’s was higher in the Championship, and Leeds ranked 11th in the country. This is a club that has been without top-flight football for over 14 years.

The geographical argument also cannot be ignored. The Premier League has increasingly become a division with two distinct epicentres. The north west accounts for a quarter of the Premier League’s clubs, and three of the top six. London accounts for another six and the rest of the top six, and Watford, Southampton, Bournemouth and Brighton can be loosely added to that list to indicate a southern dominance.

Outside of these two areas, pickings are slim. Cardiff and Wolves have gained promotion for this season, while Leicester and Huddersfield continue to punch above their weight and Newcastle labour on. The West Midlands, East Midlands and Yorkshire account for 15 of the 46 clubs to have played Premier League football, but only three of the current 20. If Huddersfield are flying the flag for Yorkshire, they could do with some help. The fourth biggest city in the UK will go 15 years without a top-flight football team.

– – – – – – – – – –

But this goes beyond mere reason, and into the intangible. Stand in the away end at Elland Road and watch your team, and it feels like a Premier League stadium. Walk around the town centre on a Saturday lunchtime before a home game, and it feels like a Premier League city. The infrastructure, transport and population is all in place, but so too is the passion. In a rugby league heartland, Leeds United still wins out.

An increasing number of football supporters are incapable of stomaching praise for a rival. Whereas once admiring another club would be a perfectly normal occurrence, now it is to admit weakness and therefore tread the line of treason. Fans exist through the prism of their affiliation. But beneath them, mercifully, is a vast layer of reasonable supporters who feel differently.

The idea of any club ‘belonging’ in the Premier League strikes as archaic and subjective, and therefore flawed. Supporters of Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Sheffield Wednesday know only too well that feeling of being killed by kindness, patronised by those who wish they could play your team again. Leeds have rivalries with Manchester United, Chelsea and others, historic war wounds that now seem comical given the gap between the clubs. But a rivalry without battle is rendered ornamental.

Leeds suffered their extended punishment for spectacular financial naivety and served their time. Their supporters have had their faith tested more times than any would care to remember. Only when strength runs dry and vision is blinded is loyalty truly put on trial.

Perhaps, with a nod to irony, El Loco is indeed the right man to temper Leeds’ crazy. It would be overdue. Leeds’ promotion must – and will only – be earned through merit, but that fails to change the objective reality: Leeds United miss the Premier League; the Premier League misses Leeds United. It is time to dance again.

Daniel Storey

More from Planet Sport:

Johnny Nic on proposed Davis Cup revamp: Sometimes change is for the best (Tennis365)

Quiz: Test your knowledge of the Lord’s honours board (Cricket365)

Ranking the Premier League clubs by who has the most handsome squad (Planet Football)