Gary Lineker, Micah Richards and Alan Shearer agree on 'massive' Leeds United Premier League point
Leeds United secured their top-flight return before winning the Championship title on Saturday.
Gary Lineker, Micah Richards and Alan Shearer are all looking forward to seeing Leeds United back in the Premier League next season following confirmation of their top-flight return.
Leeds were crowned Championship champions after beating Plymouth Argyle 2-1 on Saturday although they left it late, with Manor Solomon’s added-time winner sending his loan club back above Burnley at the death. Automatic promotion was confirmed last month and since then, Daniel Farke’s side have been perfect despite the alcohol-infused celebrations, with three points at Home Park taking them to 100 for the season.
Fans flocked to share the joy following promotion and the title, with Monday’s open-top bus parade offering another chance for the players to enjoy their moment, with thousands lining the city-centre streets. And punditry trio Lineker, Richards and Shearer were delighted to see the ‘big club’ take their place back in the Premier League.
“Micah, you won the title in injury time, late wasn’t it, your Leeds mob,” Lineker told The Rest Is Football. “It’s a big club as well, Leeds, one that should be up.”
Richards, who grew up in Chapeltown and spent time in the Leeds academy as a kid, then responded by singing Marching on Together, adding: “I knew they’d do it. The city is absolutely buzzing! It’s great when they’re up, Leeds, and all jokes aside it’s good for the community. 100 points, great, really good.”
And former Newcastle striker Shearer then joked: “Official announcement tomorrow, Micah Richards, ambassador of Leeds United. Massive fanbase, I love it. It’s great that they’re up.”
An exciting summer ahead for Leeds United as the Premier League beckons
Leeds fans can now look forward to an exciting summer in which the club will be recruiting for Premier League football, with the expectation being plenty of money will be spent. Chairman Paraag Marathe came out to back Daniel Farke amid recent speculation over the weekend and insisted every available penny will go towards transfers.
"Like I said, we're going to spend every penny that we can, that we're allowed to spend and reinvest everything back into the club,” he told the YEP. “So whatever that PSR limit tells us we can go to, we're going to go to."
Leeds are also expected to continue their work towards expanding Elland Road, with exciting images of what the stadium could look like released recently. And Marathe provided another exciting update on that front too.
"I think we're going to make some announcements coming over time that you'll see,” he added. “It's going to take a little bit of time, because we're trying to do it without compromising seats for matches. So we are going to be focused on summers and international breaks and things like that.
“There'll be some minimal disruption in different places and lounges and things like that, where we have to put in structural pillars, but for the most part it'll be with minimal seat reduction or anything during during matches."
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