Marcelo Bielsa's blunt approach can ensure Leeds United see the job through - David Prutton

If you are going on what Lee says of finding out the news 40 minutes before it was released then I can see there being an element of surprise.

With regard to ‘is it enough time?’, it’s strange because we have had a really quite obvious period of inaction which has been absolutely the way to go and then it seems that things are rapidly speeding up and I don’t know whether that seems to have caught some teams on the hop.

QPR are probably slightly different but when you look at teams at the other end of the table you can understand their different points of view.

You can understand if a team at the top such as Leeds or West Brom want to get cracking and you can understand if a team at the bottom is a little bit more reticent to find out how the rest of the season could pan out.

I still think the fact that the EFL have stressed that June 20 is a provisional restart date means that it is quite obviously subject to change in case anything happens in the meantime.

But at some stage they had to put a date down so that’s what was mooted.

I can understand Hoos’ and QPR manager Mark Warburton’s take on it with regards to welfare, not just from the pandemic point of view but also for the footballing health of the players.

Going from non contact to full games in three weeks will be venturing into the unknown.

I do sympathise with the quick turnaround but also at some stage, they have got to be looking to put things back into process.

June 20 is the date they have plucked out of the air and we will soon see whether clubs are ready, whether clubs feel that they are ready or want to play or whether they feel they have no choice other than to play.

The fact that Leeds United head coach Marcelo Bielsa has his squad extremely fit is well documented and if they have got that fitness in the bank then that’s obviously a positive though I always think maintaining that fitness when you are not playing is always easier said then done.

We have got to bear in mind that there has been a prolonged period of inaction which most of the players, if not every single one of the players, will not have experienced before, apart from being injured.

You would like to think that the base fitness that Marcelo has given them over the course of 18 months to nearly two years now is there, but the proof will be in the pudding.

United’s group seem like they are a responsible group of players who have taken the fitness side of it very seriously because from experience of pre-seasons and trying to get back to fitness there is absolutely no hiding place.

If you are not fit enough, you can’t fake being fit and you can’t fake passing fitness tests.

You can either do it or you can’t and I presume that the ones that can’t do it Marcelo won’t use. He seems as blunt as that.

Assessing whether the break in play for Leeds has been a help or a hindrance depends whether you are a pessimist or an optimist.

If you are an optimist you would say that this time for reflection means they will be even more acutely focused on what the prize is, promotion, not that they weren’t focused before.

The other side of it, yes we love football and we know how important it is but if you didn’t have perspective before you would be foolish not to have it now.

There’s that element of being motivated by escapism but for the people involved, it is career and job related so it will be intriguing to see.

I think the release of playing football and the aim of something as simple as winning a football match will be appealing, not that actually winning a football match is simple because we know how tough that is.

Hopefully that helps in the interim period between fans not being in stadiums and fans hopefully at some stage in the near future being allowed back in the stadium in full voice.

I feel very positive about Leeds seeing this through and they are tantalisingly close.

They had the heartbreak of last season after something so gigantic and big as winning a football title or getting promoted had hovered into view.

That should show them that as and when they get their chance back their focus should be on this absolutely.

We have said it many a time, that we understand where football fits but this is now something that the players can focus on.

This is the players’ area of expertise and area of responsibility – go out and win football matches and win enough football matches to get the club into the Premier League.

It’s for generations ahead to debate whether the league was done properly and if that element of integrity was attached to it or not.

All their job entails is to get through these games.

It will be surreal, it will be different and it will be alien to them.

But it's where the professional part of being a professional footballer has to come to the fore of performing when you need to perform - whether there are half a dozen people watching who are just staff or nearly 40,000 screaming and shouting at Elland Road which is the glorious side of it.

Especially in the last few days, we have had black and ethnic minority players stepping forward to say that enough is enough of the global racial inequality that we see.

This is people stepping up and talking about proper, big and serious life-changing matters.

I appreciate all that, understand all that and thank players for having the balls to be able to do that.

But when it comes to these games and when they are going to start, the players' job is straight-forward.

I know that might make it sound like it is very easy, go out and perform and get promoted.

But given the chaos in the world, going and playing your heart out for 90 minutes to me seems like a wonderful release.