Leeds United players' 49ers Enterprises questions as ex-Whites man recalls ownership impact

49ers Enterprises are awaiting EFL ratification of their takeover and although that kind of boardroom stuff has nothing to do with the bleep test or body fat measurements, it still matters to the players. Ownership and the way a club is run can impact you, as a player.

When I started out in football at Aston Villa we had 'deadly' Doug Ellis, who had a bit of a reputation and he was certainly a firm businessman but by and large he allowed the people that he employed toget on with the job so you would very rarely come across him or never had much to do with with the owner.

I found my time at Chelsea very frustrating. It's easy to say players shouldn't be bothered at all when they cross that white line, all they can think about is the sport and and that largely is correct, but all the stuff that happens outside is bound to have an effect, however big or small. In football you're always trying to find the fine margins to take advantage of, but the opposite can be true when it comes to off-field frustrations. That was the case at Chelsea. I always felt there were problems that shouldn't have been problems.

At Leeds again it was completely different. I felt there was a winning formula here, under an owner who got the right people in and trusted them to do their job. When everyone is rowing in the same direction it's really important because it means a shared vision. If the right people are doing the right jobs, things tend to work.

Last season we heard and read about owners appearing in dressing rooms after games at one or two clubs. At Torino we had three owners and a couple of times they all came in en masse. For the Italian players and their culture that was more normal. Certainly in British football, for me, it didn't really happen.

At Chelsea we were playing Sheffield Wednesday in the first game of the season. We've had six weeks of preparation, making sure that we're mentally and physically prepared and ready to go for this first game. We get into the changing rooms an hour before the kick-off, and we have someone coming down to try and get us to sign a document that means we're going to have a large amount of money coming out of our wages - it was in relation to the match tickets we were going to get in the coming season. You can imagine what that looks like. Let's put a hand grenade into the dressing room, when you've spent six weeks preparing the team to get ready for the first game of the season. It was absolutely crazy. So guess what? We downed tools, we stayed in our suits until 25 minutes before kick-off. What's the worst thing you can do? That would be just about it. Things like that really do have an effect.

As regards the 49ers, players will want to hear from them as soon as possible. What are their plans going forward, what is their vision and who do they want? I think any any time that such a big change happens, players need clarity. Then you'll find you know which players want to jump on board, which ones don't, which ones will only go so far because if you're talking about a club that wants to get back into the Premier League, then when you get to the Premier League, there will be one or two players who will have to be changed on the natural progression of things. Once we're back in the top flight, are we going to push for midtable and beyond that, Europe?

If you're a young player, and you hear all these possibilities, I think it could be exciting, but it's just what stage of your career you're at, and where you see yourself going on on your own journey. If it's exciting, if it's new people coming in with a really good vision of the plan that you believe in, that's really going to be good for the players.

When you get good owners with the right ideas, I think it really helps to galvanise a whole club and an organisation.

Some owners like to communicate directly with players and some do it through their manager. I've had a bit of both. It depends on who the coach is and how long he's been there, but I think just having the owners there, the main man Paraag Marathe, spelling it out initially is really important. You need that relationship, even if it is good to have a separation so you can get on with playing the football while they get on with running the club, it has to start with synergy. Players will want to listen to what they've got to say and understand it at the outset.

First things first, of course, the takeover has to go through and a manager has to be announced. Then we'll start to see the 49ers plan unfold.

I've been saying for the last few weeks we want to give ourselves the maximum amount of time to get on with things because there's a lot to do. Clearly everyone has to get their ducks in order and we don't want any issues along the way. The 49ers are doing everything they can at the right time, at the pace that is allowed so I'm sure once they get the green light, everything will cascade from there and then we'll be watching closely to see what happens and where they take us.