Pros and cons for Leeds United in sprint to finish line by end of July - David Prutton

It would quite obviously be something that Leeds United’s players or any of the league’s players would have never experienced from a purely match-heavy frame of time.

Yes, they will be used to intense periods of six weeks over pre-season training with games and friendlies coming thick and fast and very heavy training loads.

But this will be something where it will certainly be a physical, mental and emotional test and that’s purely just thinking about the actual act of playing football.

That’s nothing to do with how the players relate to their families and the things they might feel and the trepidation they might feel by doing something such as this, having vulnerable family members and extended family and all that type of stuff.

It will be extremely physically demanding.

But if the EFL and players are doing ‘their bit’ of churning out football matches and helping to get things like that resolved then that’s their contribution.

There are many, many questions at the moment that are far more serious and far more wide-ranging than finishing a football season.

But this is something that they control and if they can get football up and running then that’s what footballers should move heaven and earth to try and do if and when that situation arises.

The EFL have said they are looking to play their remaining games in a 56-day time frame over the summer months and there has always been talk about how fit Leeds are, and also the fact they have made impressive starts to both seasons under Marcelo Bielsa.

Could you read anything into that in terms of would this situation suit them? I think you could.

There’s a lot of teams and managers who we have heard that have come up against Leeds and remarked how fit they are.

The cynic in you thinks why aren’t you in tip-top condition and as fit as you possibly can be anyway?

But I understand how Bielsa has managed to push them to that extra level and if you are a Leeds fan you are waiting with bated breath for the ultimate result from that, ie promotion.

But as much as Leeds will be as well prepared, if not better prepared than other teams, I still think that free-for-all element of what it possibly could be would be a great leveller over the course of the league.

We know how competitive the Championship can be and we know how teams are all fighting for different things so there’s a big motivation there and also just the release of playing football.

We talk about in a very serious way of getting leagues sorted, getting promotion and relegation sorted and also the tough part about playing a condensed mini-season wondering what venues are going to be used and all that kind of stuff.

But underneath all of that, maybe there will be that release to the players in that they can think ‘people have stopped asking questions and people are now just asking us to go and perform’.

There’s a wonderful simplicity to that in a complicated world.

What looks certain is that any football played will be done so behind closed doors.

Having had the privilege of playing in front of a packed-out stadium at Elland Road and also back in the day playing against Leeds, it’s both inspirational and it can be intimidating if you are the visiting side.

At Elland Road, the crowd is that stereotypical and much-cliched 12th man, they’ve got it in abundance and bucketloads.

United’s fans are quite rightly lauded for it but if that’s the state of play then that’s just something that Leeds United, like every other team, would have to master and gain control of.

The most thrilling part of being a footballer and I say this without any sense of an undue ego was playing in front of a lot of people.

The collective rush and collective emotional communion that is felt on a Saturday afternoon or a Tuesday or Wednesday night or whenever we play football matches nowadays, and being in front of that was the most glorious feeling and absolutely the best part of it.

But while you see footballers for an hour and a half or two hours on a match day, for the rest of it they are all out on a training pitch and there is no crowd.

There are drills that they go through and there are mini games that they play.

Playing football matches without supporters will be slightly odd but it will be something that will have to master quickly.

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