The new season is upon us

[MOTForum]

And so the new season is nearly upon us, Leeds United kick off the 2011-2012 season against Southampton at St Marys on Saturday. Finally we will all have some football to talk about rather than the usual speculation and rumour football fans normally discuss in the summer months. Whether it is the proliferation of rumours on Twitter, Facebook and 24x7 Sky Sports News or the lack of any major signings at the club that has made this offseason worse than previous I don’t know but it does seem to have been a particularly anxious summer.

We seem to have been linked with every journeyman in the Championship, every young Premiership player recovering from injury and needing games and at least three former players. And while Ken sat with his cheque book firmly closed out promotion rivals were embarking on massive spending sprees. But nerves seem to have calmed in the last couple of weeks with the signing of Andy Lonergan as the replacement for Kasper Schmeichel , Michael Brown as the long needed defensive midfield player and a good victory against Newcastle United.

I don’t think we should get too excited about beating Newcastle though, they were poor and a week or two behind us in terms of pre-season training. They are also currently engulfed in the Barton Twitter-gate saga suggesting there is a certain amount of disharmony in the camp at the moment. What Leeds did demonstrate though was an attacking flair, great ability going forward and the fact that there is plenty of goals in the team.

If were honest though that was never the issue, it was the defence that was always the problem. Michael Brown brings steel and experience to the midfield and should help to protect the defence which in turn has been strengthened by the return of Paddy Kisnorbo. If Lonergan is a better communicator than Schmeichel was then we may well be set. A few more players to provide that strength in depth in the midfield/defence area are still required, I don’t see either Brown or Kisnorbo being ever present, though it looks increasingly likely that these may be recruited via the loan market.

There was so little expectation to really push for promotion last year and yet the team delivered great performances and a far better than expected league position. There is far more expectation this year that we should push for automatic promotion but with so little investment and so many quality players leaving the club the fans are anxious. Let’s hope they can surprise us all again and provide us with another great season and something to celebrate come next May.