Leicester City are a team to beat

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http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/leeds-united/latest-whites-news/leeds_united_leicester_city_are_a_team_to_beat_gray_1_3543111

Most of us thought that big-spending Leicester City would be a force to be reckoned with next season, and the last couple of weeks have left me in no doubt about how dangerous they’ll be in the Championship.

Everyone sees West Ham United as the division’s champions-in-waiting but I think Leicester are on a par with them.

Investing cash doesn’t guarantee success, as we found out recently with Middlesbrough, but Leicester seem to be investing their money wisely.

With Sven-Goran Eriksson in charge, they’ll definitely be a team to watch.

In actual fact, I thought they’d do much better than they did last season.

Finishing 10th and eight points outside the play-offs must have been a big disappointment for Eriksson.

His squad were in a position to claim a higher position and, if truth be told, should have claimed a higher position. Their campaign was one of under-achievement, as I’m sure they would agree.

Thinking back to last season, I didn’t see a better side at Elland Road than Leicester.

It was a toss-up between them and Cardiff City, both of whom won convincingly in Leeds in October.

Whether you like Leicester’s summer signings or not, you have to remember that they’re building on top of a good and well-established team. You also suspect that, if January comes and they’re right in the mix, they’ll throw more money at the transfer market.

Mentioning Cardiff, my gut feeling about them is completely different. They’ve taken on a good manager in Malky Mackay but the squad’s been picked apart down there and it would come as a surprise to me if they went as close to automatic promotion as they did in May.

Jay Bothroyd’s gone and so has Craig Bellamy, two of the best players in the division never mind at Cardiff.

Selling Michael Chopra to Ipswich Town has left them with little in the way of proven strikers.

You’d never write a club of that size off but, in a straight choice between Cardiff and Leicester, I know where I’d put my money.

As for Leeds United, we’re still no closer to having a clear vision of how much of a say they’ll have in the promotion picture. That’s obviously their target and ambition for next season but the club are a long way from putting a final team together.

I said in this column last week that the signings needed to start coming fast, and all of us are looking for movement. I know what a minefield the transfer market can be and the risk as July goes on is that a few of the deals you’re hoping for or banking on come to nothing for whatever reason.

Simon Grayson will know who his targets are but they’re never your players until they’ve signed a contract and made the commitment.

The last thing you want as a manager in pre-season is to feel worried about your squad or under pressure to get players through the door.

The reality is that Simon will already be clear on his preferred line-up. Whether that includes players who are already at Elland Road or are still to be signed, I’m sure he’ll know what he wants the team at Leeds to look like. A lot of planning will have gone on since the end of last season and probably before it.

He, like every other coach in the Championship, will have told his squad on the first day of pre-season that shirts are up for grabs and no place is decided, but it’s safe to say that most managers have a clear plan of attack long before training starts.

If you’ve got the responsibility of managing a big club with lots of pressure and high expectation, you think ahead and keep your strategy as fixed as it can be.

Most of the lads at Leeds will hope they’ve got a chance of getting into the side on the first day of the season but I reckon that Simon already knows which of them will be first-choice picks and which of them won’t.

That’s not to say he can’t change his mind or that certain individuals won’t stake a very strong claim but, as much as pre-season can be the ideal time to experiment, you want your thinking to be underlined as quickly as possible.

Only confirmation of new signings will allow Simon to do that.