Ex-Leeds United star hails huge new Whites boost with Champions League declaration but five-team 49ers warning

If it's filled, it will be phenomenal. It will be one of the real marquee stadiums, at least in the north, if not in the country, which I think befits how Leeds fans feel about themselves and the club so it's very exciting. I know nothing regarding finances, logistics and construction but it's something to get very excited about and I would definitely back the club to fill it.

It will be a colossal place to watch football, enjoy football, experience football and it's obviously being done with the aim of hosting Premier League football and potential international matches along the way.

Elland Road is an iconic stadium anyway, and I'm not just saying that because I played there both as a home team and an away side. But it will do wonders for the area and wonders for attracting, I presume, not just football to the area because it will be a great venue for other huge events too so there's something to be said for that.

It smacks of a club and an organisation both actually moving in the right direction and wanting to move in the right direction. I just hope that it's got real footings on it to be able to move forward and actually get it done within the very near future if they can fill it and they will know exactly what the demand is.

The other side of it is creating the right environment for success on the pitch and that filters down to the manager and to the players. There'll be some players there that could be there now that will get nowhere near whatever the new stadium is by virtue of the passage of time.

But it's a tough one with football because Leeds have obviously been very badly burnt before about projecting success and assuming success before it's actually gained - ie Champions League qualification. They've got to be very careful with that.

I'd like to think that, along with several cautionary tales in the recent history of Leeds means that this hasn't been announced without due diligence, due thought and due process.

You've got to trust in the people that announce it and hope that the ambition is adhered to on the pitch with promotion to the Premier League because a 53,000 capacity stadium isn't built for second tier football. It's built for Premier League football and everything that comes with that.

Maybe cynically you could say you need one first before the other. But sometimes it's how long is a piece of string if you're going to build something that is, I presume, multi purpose, and I presume will be funded in a way that benefits the club, the community, the city and the county as a whole. You've got to say it's a very positive thing.

Some people might view it as a pipedream when it comes to getting back to the Champions League days. Pipedream means it's never going to happen and I totally get that.

But without imagination or without dreaming, then great things potentially can't happen. Other than 91 other football clubs, there's nothing stopping Leeds getting back to where they want to get to and it comes down to buying right, recruiting right, structurally, getting the set-up right, but underpinning all that is performance.

Performance hopefully breeds success on the pitch which is where any football club's success is measured. There are a whole host of different permutations of what huge building work can create, it can create success, it can create opportunity, it can create problems and it can create debate. But I get the feeling that it wouldn't be undertaken lightly and a sprucing up of the place which has got so much history to it is due I think.

Within that, what is so unique and that Leeds are proud of is the atmosphere that they generate. Some would say, if you get a load of people in, does that change the dynamics?

But from a positive point of view, you've already got over 30,000 avid and fervent followers. If it's over 50,000 then it can only be a better thing from an atmospheric point of view.

But it's a stage then that befits Liverpool, Man United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Man City and Leeds going toe to toe with them. There's plenty of work to be done on the pitch but the parallel off the pitch suggests a club that has huge ambitions and goals, which if you are a Leeds fan is absolutely great.