McAllister will have Wembley as the backdrop for his 20th game as United's manager on Sunday, but in keeping with the demeanour he has maintained since his appointment on January 29, the Scot is likely to leave the acclaim to his players if promotion to the Championship is earned at the end of the road in London.

Asked after United's semi-final win over Carlisle how qualifying for the play-off final ranked among his footballing achievements, McAllister said: "It's definitely up there, but it's not about me. It's about the players."

It is a line he has taken consistently in the past three-and-a-half months.

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McAllister's modesty has been lost on Bates, however. His opinion of his manager has grown with each passing game.

The identification of Dennis Wise's replacement was completed quickly in January but not with undue haste, and McAllister's selection appears to be an increasingly inspired decision. There will be no effort on the part of Bates to deny the 43-year-old the recognition he is worth.

"Gary's a natural manager and a natural leader," said Bates. "Those were the qualities we were looking for when we asked him to take over at a difficult time.

"He has his own opinion, but my understanding is that he's due a lot of the credit for the fact that we're in the play-off final.

"His leadership's been inspirational and being at Wembley is the result of a lot of hard work from everyone involved.

"Football club's don't rely on one or two people. The successful clubs are the ones where every single person plays their part. I like the way Gary goes about his job – there's no fuss and no drama. He gets on with it quietly and thoughtfully. I don't think he can be faulted.

"In the second leg against Carlisle, we not only won the game but we won it with style and a bit of class. The players are responsible for that but I do think it's a reflection of the manager as well. We've become a very good team."

The belief that Leeds may have peaked at the perfect time – a factor which is perennially crucial in the Football League's play-offs – is not held by Bates alone.

Over the past two months, United have been beaten at Huddersfield Town and at home by Carlisle, but the defeats have been exceptions to the rule in a spell in which Leeds have been as convincingly consistent as at any other stage of the season.

Their last nine matches have yielded seven victories, five of which have come away from Elland Road, and United's dominant conclusion to the League One season has justified Bates' decision to lock McAllister to a 12-month rolling contract before the outcome of the play-off final is known.

McAllister was originally handed a short-term agreement on the understanding that an extension was likely to depend on him achieving promotion, but Bates pre-empted the club's possible return to the Championship by revising the agreement at the start of last month.

United's chairman admitted that he feared briefly for the club's season after they were beaten by Carlisle in the first leg of a fascinating semi-final, but their recovery at Brunton Park, where two goals from Jonathan Howson earned Leeds a 3-2 aggregate win, has left him "quietly confident" that Sunday's game against Doncaster Rovers at Wembley will deliver the prize that the club have chased since August.

"I wouldn't want to sound over-confident, but in my own way I'm quietly cocky," he said.

"I'd expect it to be a very difficult game, but we're going into it on the back of a classy performance at Carlisle. I've got a lot of faith in Gary and his squad.

"I've said before that I'm immensely proud of these players, not just for reaching the play-off final but for the way they approached this season and the way they've fought back from an unjust 15-point deduction. They've been tremendous."

In the minutes after United's defeat to Watford in the 2006 Championship play-off final in Cardiff, Bates descended to the Leeds dressing room to deliver a rousing speech to the club's beaten players.

He thanked them for their effort and told them to forget the disappointment of defeat during the summer ahead. They were words of consolation he will hope to avoid repeating two years on.

"One big difference between this season and 2006 is the age of our players," said Bates. "If you worked out the average age of Gary's team, you'd be quite surprised by how low it is.

"We're younger and fresher this time round. We also deserve to be promoted after the season we've had, and I think the players know that. We'll see on Sunday what I have to say to the players afterwards but they've already earned an awful lot of credit for what they've done."