Leeds United: I'll never tire of football - Snodin
Glynn Snodin with Simon Grayson.
Date: 27 May 2010
By Phil Hay
Leeds United coach Glynn Snodin is already itching for the start of next season, claiming the club's 60-game trawl to automatic promotion left his energy undiminished.Snodin and the rest of United's backroom team are taking the opportunity to draw breath after an exhilarating end to the longest of terms at Elland Road, but the 50-year-old said he felt no need of a break, despite the intensity of the past 10 months.
Leeds completed exactly 60 competitive fixtures en route to promotion from League One, and their dramatic retention of second position – thereby avoiding the division's play-offs which conclude at Wembley this weekend – extended the break afforded to Simon Grayson's players and staff by an extra three weeks.
Grayson is unlikely to see more than a brief holiday as he attacks the transfer market and attempts to adequately prepare Leeds for their arrival in the Championship, but Snodin admitted he was already counting the days to the start of pre-season training and the resumption of his day-to-day routine.
"I know I probably need a break but I don't really feel like one," he said.
"When people miss out on promotion, you always hear them say that the next game can't come soon enough but it's almost the same when you've won promotion. Your enthusiasm's bubbling and if the season had to start tomorrow, you'd be quite happy about that.
"It's important for the players to get away and recuperate, and for
Simon too because he's carried more pressure than anyone else, but the last 12 months have been an absolute ball for me. My job's far less tiring on the inside than it looks from the outside.
"Sixty games sounds like a hell of a lot but the season absolutely flew. When you're playing Saturday, Tuesday week after week, you don't have time to celebrate wins or dwell on losses. You just keep moving from game to game and before you know it you're into April and at the sharp end. For me, I wouldn't describe it as a tiring season, just a brilliant one."United did not take long to see the benefit of promotion at the earliest opportunity. While four teams contested the play-off semi-finals a week after the end of League One's 46-game season, Grayson and his squad were in Dubai, relaxing at the expense of their club.
Prior commitments forced Snodin to miss the four-day break in the Middle East but he selflessly insisted that the travelling party consisted of those who had earned the reward most. "We've all played a part," Snodin said, "but the players and the manager deserve the most credit."
Snodin is one of Grayson's biggest admirers, consistently impressed by the maturity of a manager who is 10 years his junior and less than five years on from his retirement as a professional footballer.
United appointed Grayson with the assumption that if he could win promotion from League One as manager of Blackpool, he could do the same with Leeds. The club are now looking to him to repeat the second stage of his job at Bloomfield Road by re-establishing United in the Championship, a division they vacated in 2007.
His success in doing so will be influenced by the success of his graft in the transfer market, work which is yet to bring about United's first signing. Snodin has watched Grayson operate with growing respect during his 18 months as manager and does not fear that Leeds might be caught short in a more competitive league next season.
"He knows what he needs to do with the squad," Snodin said. "I heard him say that he'd have to be ruthless when it came to who to keep and who to let go, and that sounds like him. He's got a very tough job but he's always willing to do the difficult parts.
"It's easy to underestimate the pressure he's been under. In a way, he makes people underestimate it because he never gives you the impression that he's under pressure. He'll criticise the team from time to time and he'll get frustrated by results, like we all do, but he's always calm and always in check. I've been so impressed by him."You're talking about someone who's 40 years of age with a limited amount of experience. If he'd been managing for 15 or 20 years then you wouldn't be surprised, but every time you tried to take things off his hands or tried to make his life easier, he'd tell you not to worry and to get on with your job.
"There were times when he might have panicked or felt like things were going wrong, but if he ever panicked then he did it behind closed doors. All I ever saw from him was complete confidence that we were going to get promoted."Grayson and his staff carried with them the expectation that their squad would win promotion automatically this season.
Despite Grayson's promise that he would attempt to attack the top of the Championship, the club will enter next season with more conservative aims, beginning with the priority of remaining in the division for a second season.
"As a coach, I've never experienced anything like this promotion," Snodin said. "But I don't think any of us would be happy for that to be the be-all and end-all. It's more like a first step."Most people in football, players or coaches, achieve one thing and then look at what they can achieve next. Promotion's sunk in now and I'm starting to think about next season. It's like that old saying – you're only as good as your last game."
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