David Prutton: A crucial summer ahead for Leeds United '“ on and off the pitch

It has just been another indifferent season of treading water at Leeds and because of what has happened to Sunderland there has been a lot of talk about what can happen to big clubs.

Where Leeds are, there has got to be a cautionary note of how a season can go from being indifferent to being in danger and how quickly it can turn.

You can look at Leeds United’s stats this season and if you are limiting yourself to four shots on goal on average per game over the course of a season, then, my word, you have got to be clinical when you get those chances.

And Leeds haven’t got those players.

Chris Wood worked his way into being a player of a clinical nature so he did not need that many chances to stick the ball in the back of the net and stats like that just show where Leeds need to improve.

There has been lots of talk about Paul Heckingbottom’s position as head coach and I still think he should be given time over the summer.

But time in football flows at a different rate to time in other professions and it is different from club to club. Some are more trigger-happy than others.

It doesn’t need me or 30,000 Leeds fans or forums or websites for Paul to know the position he is in and I always maintain what I have always said about him.

He is an extremely bright fellow and an extremely driven fellow but he will know that what he has got from this side so far isn’t good enough and he knows that as much as he judges the players, everyone else judges him.

Of course Leeds need to spend money this summer but it’s not an exact science and it doesn’t guarantee you success.

It’s got to be lined with a sound financial footing and Leeds fans know that the other end of spending lots of money is that if it doesn’t work then you end up on your backside in League One. You have got to preach prudence and I am not saying go bonkers but if the money is there and the ambition is there then show us that in pre-season. And if it’s not there, then tell the fans that in pre-season.

If Andrea Radrizzani is thinking that he needs to save face and maintain the perception that Leeds are going places, Leeds fans are not going to be interested if Andrea gets three or months into the new season and then makes another apology in saying that he made the wrong decision. The fans will not be interested.

Get it right now, give us some money and let whoever is in charge crack on. If it works, great. If it doesn’t then you address that at a later date.

But money has to be spent. It’s not a case of spending money for the sake of it but Leeds have done it a certain way for a couple of seasons and where has it got them?

There are players at the club that can do a job for Leeds United but in between all that you need real stellar pillars of consistency, quality and experience.

If not then it has got to be huge potential in the sense of paying X amount for someone because they are going to be a superstar.

If you go across the departments, you can look at the forward line and you need a striker that is going to get you at least 15 to 20 goals.

You can look at getting a midfielder who will run that midfield with a real sense or urgency and authority. And then behind him a player that we know can marshall the defence. It all sounds fairly straight-forward but what is available and what are Leeds prepared to pay? I know the club are hoping to sign Kyle Bartley from Swansea City and Bartley has got the experience of being at Leeds where he had a really good partnership with Pontus Jansson last season.

Even the demeanour of Kyle Bartley, that big smiley face with the scowl of Pontus, they seemed to dovetail pretty well.

If a player like that was to come in then I think the fans would see that as a big tick in the box.

That would be one thing addressed but then it would be a case of can Leeds sort out the goalkeeping situation? Can they sort the striker situation out and can they get a player in who is going to sit in front of Kyle and do the job that allows Kyle to do his job?

Can they get someone in front of the midfield that is going to put away the chances created? There’s just a ruthlessness at Leeds that needs to be re-introduced.

The Whites now have their final game of the season at home to QPR on Sunday and I think it will be tricky.

You can look at QPR and there are elements where they have mirrored Leeds at certain stages in the season.

I am sure that QPR boss Ian Holloway is probably slightly frustrated at where he is looking at his side finishing when he has seen how capable they are on their day.

They were ruthless against Birmingham City last time out and they are no soft touch.

And because of the stature of who they are playing on Sunday, ‘Ollie’ will want to get one over on them.

He has got a lot of time for young managers and he has got a lot of time for the big institutions and good footballing fan bases but he still wants to win so it will be a very, very tough game for Leeds.

But Leeds need to send their fans home with something to grasp hold of and something to keep them interested over the course of the season.

There might be a few weeks where fans are walking around kicking the cat and thinking ‘what if’, ‘it could have been this’, ‘it could have been that’.

But as soon as the pre-season rumours come around about who is possibly in talks and the fixtures come and out and pre-season starts, that’s when you all buy that figurative lottery ticket.

You say ‘sod it, this is going to be the year, this is going to end with us seeing Leeds do a Wolves or a Cardiff or a Fulham.’ It’s a case of ‘if not, then our season doesn’t end in the first weekend in May, it ends in the last weekend in May on a glorious Bank Holiday at Wembley when we do something mega’.

But the flip side of it is doing a Sunderland. The stat that Leeds have got the same amount of points over the last 21 games as Sunderland is absolutely shocking.

There has been genuine anger up at Sunderland and with the greatest respects they are going to be playing in their stadium next year against the likes of Accrington and they won’t even have that top tier open.

It’s going to be dead, it’s going to be flat and there is a hell of a job on there.

So the warning signs are there and it’s a case of look what the other deal of the hand could have been. Leeds are lucky in that respect that they gave themselves a chance in the first half of the season, very lucky.

To fall away so much, it shows the stark reality of where they are.