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Grayson talks up Leeds’ chances

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Leeds United boss Simon GraysonLeeds boss Simon Grayson reckons the Championship promotion race is “wide open” as he looks to lead the Whites to back-to-back promotions (Leeds 14/1 – 2010/11 Championship Outright).

The Elland Road outfit may have limped over the line to finish as runners-up in League One last season, but it was enough to get them back in the second tier of English football.

And now Grayson is looking to kick on by insisting he is not just going up into the Championship next term to make up the numbers.

He told the Yorkshire Evening Post: “I’m not going to settle for finishing fourth from bottom and staying up.

“It’s a risky strategy anyway and a negative way to look at things. To be honest, I don’t think that many people in Leeds would see it as an achievement.

“Most people would probably see it as a disappointment and I accept that.

“Staying up is your first target but I won’t be the only manager who’s looking at the Championship and seeing a wide open league.

“Twelve teams could have a real chance, maybe more. I said in May that I go into every season looking for promotion and I still believe it might be a possibility.”

Totesport makes Nottingham Forest the 8/1 favourites to win the Championship next term, with Middlesbrough (9/1) and Queens Park Rangers (10/1) just behind them.

Leeds must do without the goals of Jermaine Beckford next season after the striker made the move to the Premier League with Everton.

Billy Paynter has been snapped up from Swindon as his replacement although Grayson is still weighing up whether or not to make permanent moves for last season’s loan stars, Michael Doyle and Neill Collins.

Grayson added: “They’re players who did really well for us last season but they’re obviously tied to other clubs.

“I’m not going to say we will try to sign them or that we won’t. It’s a case of looking at all the options and seeing what’s best for the club.

“We’re at the end of June and there’s no need for clubs or players to rush into decisions.”

Leeds kick off their season with a home clash against Derby on August 7.

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Grayson looking to complete job

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Leeds boss Simon Grayson is confident the team he puts out against Bristol Rovers at Elland Road on Saturday will get them over the finish line and earn automatic promotion from League One.

The Whites are odds-on (1/5) to join Norwich City back in the Championship next season although the likes of Millwall, Swindon, Charlton and even Huddersfield are all waiting in the wings should the fallen Yorkshire giants slip up again.

Leeds have simply been down among the dead men for too long after paying the price for ‘living the dream’ under former chairman Peter Ridsdale.

But they have the chance to avoid the dreaded play-offs by putting the Pirates to the sword on home soil on the final day of the regular League One season – and they are certainly fancied to do just that (Leeds 2/7, draw 7/2, Rovers 8/1 in match betting).

Grayson is picking from a position of relative strength at the end of a long season, with just Ben Parker, Paddy Kisnorbo, Jason Crowe and Aidy White on the sidelines.

“We’ve got everyone you would expect available,” said Grayson. “We’ll consider all our options and, as I always say, we will put a team out that we believe can do the job we want to do.”

Win and Leeds are up, but any other result makes them vulnerable given their slender one-point advantage over Millwall and Swindon, who meet at the Den.

The Lions could be without top scorer Steve Morrison with the hitman facing a late fitness test on a hamstring problem although fit-again Gary Alexander, who himself is no stranger to the back of the net, is ready to be pitched in following a bad heel injury.

Robins forward Vincent Pericard, once of Juventus, Portsmouth and Stoke, looks set to sit the game out with a heel problem of his own after missing last weekend’s 3-2 victory over Brentford.

Swindon chief Danny Wilson admits his side will be under the best kind of pressure.

He told the BBC:  “You’ve just got to enjoy it. I’d certainly rather be in our position than fighting against relegation.

“We’ll go out and remember this time because they don’t come around too often.”

At the other end of the League One table, four clubs are slugging it out to avoid joining Southend, Wycombe and Stockport in League Two next season.

Tranmere, Gillingham, Hartlepool or Exeter will lose their place in the division, with the unlucky club’s players set for a miserable summer break.

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