LEEDS United suffered relegation this week and, like ourselves, people have immediately been talking about their chances of bouncing back at the first attempt.

I think they have an advantage over us in terms of their high fan base, which will bring in more revenue, but their biggest disadvantage is they will lose their best players. Leeds will need to totally rebuild now, whereas I am hoping to keep the ones I feel are our key players.

There also seems some uncertainty with what's happening in the boardroom and our advantage over Leeds in that department is that we have stabilised the future of the football club.

But it's a tragedy what's happened because Leeds are a fantastic club that deserve to grace the Premiership.

I was also shocked to hear about Stan Ternent's departure from Burnley this week, having played for him for two years at Turf Moor.

He's achieved a lot there because Burnley were a run-of-the-mill club going nowhere really. He had a big job in hand but quickly stamped his authority and, once his ways were in place, he had success.

The biggest thing about Stan is he's a winner. He can quickly identify who is the same around him and will not carry anybody.

He was in a fortunate position of having a big squad at Burnley and, if he did not fancy you, you were no longer at the club. He had that ruthless streak you need to be successful. You take some bits off different managers and seeing how he handled such situations has stuck with me.

I have spoken to him this season but he's had problems of his own to deal with. He's had a difficult time and had to work within a tight budget.

We chatted about getting players in and both agreed we didn't believe in the loan market that we had been forced to use. I asked him about his players but he did not have enough available apart from a couple of young lads who were not quite ready.

I'm sure he will get another job if he wants one but, if he doesn't, he will be a major loss because he's a big character and there's not many around in the modern game.

There is talk about him in a director of football role and I have heard some people say I might have benefited from an experienced former manager in that position here this season but I think that when you bring in a director of football it sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.

At Spurs, it seems that when there has been a disagreement it has led to the manager leaving. It's something you can toy with but, at our level, you can't afford to carry both a director of football and a manager.

I have people to turn to but, ultimately, you have to make your own decisions and believe in your own ability.

I will be looking to rubber-stamp my mark on my team next season, which is also what I will be doing in a light-hearted manner at the Fans Match on Sunday when I manage a team of supporters.

It should be an interesting day at Bootham Crescent and I think some of the fans will find out how difficult it is running around on the pitch for 90 minutes. It will give them the chance to see things at first hand and the pleasing factor is that the funds raised will help towards my budget for next season.

The fans have once more shown how extremely resourceful they are. They keep coming up with these ideas and will continue to do so.

We can't stop doing such events and they are necessary because if the fans carry on showing the level of support they did on Saturday that will help me do the things I want to do financially.

I'm looking forward to it and I think there will be an abundance of passion in the teams, something which has sadly been missing at times on the field this year.

Updated: 11:03 Thursday, May 06, 2004