Leeds United: Rosler only looking at first seven matches

Rosler will take charge of his first competitive Whites fixture in tomorrow’s Elland Road Championship opener with Burnley who themselves have just been relegated from the country’s top flight.

The German is now ultimately charged with ending United’s 11-year exile from the Premier – and would gain hero status should he achieve that goal – but the German is adamant he will focus only on the here and now.

Asked what winning promotion with his new club Leeds would mean, Rosler admitted: “To get that right and get this football club right (back in the Premier) would be a massive achievement.

“But for me, and I’m not just saying it, I really mean it, I am just concentrating on the first block of games until the the internationals.

“That is all I am focusing on and all I am doing 24-7 now and I think that is the best way for me personally to stay sharp and stay focussed and also for the players.

“I have had so much to do I have not had time to think further than that, honestly, and what comes comes.”

Rosler is also refusing to draw comparisons between Leeds and his former side Manchester City – who were a second tier team for the last two years of the German’s spell with them from 1996 to 1998.

City were then relegated to what is now League One the following season yet 13 years later they were crowned Premier League champions but Rosler said: “Every club lives its own life and in my opinion you can’t copy anything because the copy will never be as good as the original so we have to find our own way to come back to the top.

“How quickly we achieve that? I don’t know. I don’t think nobody knows.

“But the only thing I can tell now is that from this season now we can look forwards. In the last years the club has had to look backwards as to what comes around the corner but from this season we can look forward.

“It’s about hard work not only from the players and the first team staff but everybody involved with Leeds United Football Club and also the supporters. We need to achieve a togetherness and we need to work on that onwards to drive this club forwards and I see very promising signs. People are aware of this and now people are really trying to focus on getting that foundation right.”

Rosler certainly looked in a relaxed mood in his first pre-match press conference at Thorp Arch which began with the 46-year-old politely introducing himself individually to those present complete with friendly handshake.

The German then went for a run after his media duties and admitted he is relishing his role at Leeds – and the warm welcome he has received.

Rosler beamed: “What I have noticed is that I have met so many people saying ‘welcome to Leeds, welcome to Elland Road.’

“Like you could see on my path as a player and a coach, I have been around but I have never experienced that – that welcome, so many welcomes and that obviously gives you a good vibe from day one.

“New people came to the club the same time I came in and I think we found each other very quickly and found a way to communicate throughout the different departments very quickly.

“I think we all know where we are and what we have to do to bring this club forward the short and medium term.

“What makes me very happy is that here I can concentrate now on what I think is my best area which is to work with the players and work with the staff around the first team. I enjoy that very much.”

Asked if that happiness could ultimately lead to an immediate promotion – for which Leeds are seemingly unfancied by the country’s bookmakers, Rosler said: “The chairman has given me realistic targets and I think I have realistic targets.

“The last thing I want – and I can only control the controllable – is to put too much pressure on this young group of players because this young group of players will push anyway.

“They will put themselves under pressure to play well and do well and develop as it is.”