David Prutton: Whisper it quietly, but Leeds United look the business

I know a lot of people are trying to not get carried away but you can see by the look in their eyes that they are very excited about what is going on.

There is an excitement about the character the team is showing and the way that Marcelo Bielsa is blending players that have been there a while with young lads who are coming in seamlessly and stepping into the team.

That all shows a really good working ethos across the whole of the squad and you get the feeling that everybody involved wants to be a part of it whether that be players in the starting XI or those on the bench.

It really is a wonderful thing to see and the Boxing Day game against Blackburn typified everything at Leeds at the moment – a never-say-die attitude, sticking in the game and having the quality to take chances as and when they arrived.

It all means that as we pass the halfway stage of the Championship, everything at Leeds is set up unbelievably well.

But the key is obviously to make sure that it is the same come the end of the season and not just a glorious Christmas.

Given the circumstances in which Leeds have picked up these last two victories, there will be people believing that promotion for Leeds is written in the stars this season – that the Gods are suggesting that 2019 could finally be the year.

If you believe in the romance of football and what football can do as a game in terms of bringing people together, then I think you can have that belief.

Football really does bring people together and by that I mean the supporters, the city, the team, the coaching staff and the club.

This is the time of year when you can allow yourself to get carried away with stuff and the time of the year where it is appropriate to say that something a little bit magical can happen.

And that’s the way that fans should be looking at it – as a time where the next generation of memories are made.

When I was at Leeds, we had ups and downs and the main aim was to try and get back in the Championship.

The Leeds fans that I have spoken to come from different generations and there are obviously lots that go back to the Don Revie era.

There are lots that go back to the David O’Leary era when the team were in the Champions League and the type of players they were able to attract, mixed in with the young players and the Academy graduates who were really strong and the youth set up. There are shades of that now.

Then there was obviously the Gordon Strachan, Gary Speed and Gary McAllister era when Leeds won the league title in 1992. It feels like there is a tradition and a history behind it but Bielsa’s players are not weighed down by the history.

It feels like this set of players want to create something new, something this next generation of Leeds fans will look back on one day and remember – a team with the likes of Kemar Roofe and Pablo Hernandez together with a world class coach in Marcelo Bielsa who finally got them back to the Premier League.

I can only look at it from my point of view of being part of a team that dithered around in what was the old third division. We had a shot of doing something special at Wembley and we didn’t quite do it.

Yet you still remember that fondly and you were still part of something that was Leeds United at a certain time.

This team now and this bunch of players are well poised to be a set of heroes themselves for actually doing something that got the club back off the canvas and back competing against the biggest clubs in England.

Leeds are now three points clear of second-placed Norwich City and six ahead of third-placed West Brom and the power that West Brom have got going forward means they can really cause teams problems. But with Norwich you have got to look at the similarities with them and Leeds.

They score late goals, they can come back and turn deficits around and they have got a mixture of young lads that have come through with some very clever signings and a certain way of playing under Daniel Farke.

That all suggests that the game between Leeds and Norwich at Elland Road in early February could be brilliant.

I can’t wait for that and if both teams keep going hell for leather as they are now, then that game could be absolutely fantastic.

It would be one of those where you would have nobody in the ground leaving before the 97th minute with everyone waiting for something ridiculous to happen at the end of the game. West Brom have that added pressure and expectation of a team that have just come down from the Premier League in that they are able to attract certain players and they will be able to attract even more players in January because of the money they will be able to spend.

We saw Leeds humbled at the Hawthorns but that is the only time we have seen them in that position and maybe that was the wake-up call required because since then they have secured seven straight wins.

The club record is nine and they have got a good chance of doing that.

Championship on Sky Sports, New Year’s Day: Nottingham Forest v Leeds United, Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Football, 2.55pm.