Leeds face abyss and blame should not rest with just Bielsa or Marsch

The Leeds fans at the Reebok Stadium were raucous. “We’ll support you ever more,” they bellowed, because when relegation comes defiance is pretty much the only option that remains. Did they know just how long ever more would be? Did they have any idea just what a journey they would have to undertake before, 16 years later, they next played a Premier League game?

Certainly hope was scarce that afternoon in May 2004. Mark Viduka had swept home a penalty to give the away side a lead they had barely deserved, but was then booked for jabbing a heel into Emerson Thome. Then, in the space of two minutes, he squared up to Nicky Hunt and clattered Ivan Campo before finally collecting a second yellow for flinging an arm into the face of Bruno N’Gotty.

Bolton scored four goals in the second half, three of them before the 55th minute. In theory Leeds could have survived, and Manchester City relegated, but only with a goal-difference swing of 36 over two games. It was done and everybody knew it.

Three years earlier, Leeds had played in a Champions League semi-final. That was a team that still included a number of stars: not just Viduka but also Alan Smith, Paul Robinson, James Milner and Ian Harte. But with debts at £30m as the gilded days of celebrity goldfish and £37,000-a-week contracts for Seth Johnson unravelled, it was also clear that a glorious position had been squandered and it would take an awful lot for the club to be reset.

But none surely imagined Ken Bates and the third flight, four managers with a 0% win percentage, Dave Hockaday and Paul Heckingbottom. What is happening now is not like last time. On Sunday, as Leeds go to Brentford needing a better result than Burnley achieve at home to Newcastle to stay up, there is