Talksport presenter Adrian Durham was yesterday spouting his usual nonsense and declared that Leeds United would be relegated this season because we’ve lost Kasper Schmeichel, Bradley Johnson and Neil Kilkenny.

Here at The Scratching Shed, I’m predicting a play-off finish for The Whites but how does that compare with what the objective types think?

Jonathan Liew – The Guardian 

The Guardian’s Jonathan Liew has written his predictions for all the teams in the Championship and has Leeds United 11th with the following explanation;

Certainly good enough to make the play-offs at least, but Leeds’s problem will be in stringing a run of results together. Grayson has been unhappy with the team’s performances during pre-season, and in such a strong league, a slow start could prove fatal to their promotion chances.

@AndrewHaigh – The Sun 

I contacted The Sun journalist and Leeds United fan for his prediction via Twitter and he appears to be playing it safe with a conservative 10th place finish on 63 points (very specific!)

Christian Brown – The Football Front 

Chris points to the loss of Killa, Johnson and Schmeichel to justify a prediction of 13th place for The Whites.

What is going on at Leeds? First they lose both holding midfielders Bradley Johnson and Neil Kilkenny on frees, then they force their goalkeeper out before bringing in a sub standard replacement in comparison to Schmeichel, and then to top it off, 2 of their best strikers get injured (Becchio and Somma)! With Premier League eyes keenly fixed on both Max Gradel and Robert Snodgrass, if Leeds aren’t careful, they could be back where they came from. Losing Schmeichel is a monumental blow, as he won the club so many points on his own last. New keeper, Longeran will not do the same.

Systemlays 

The betting site Systemlays is another predicting a season of mediocrity for The Whites with an 11th placed finish.

I am surrounded by Leeds fans at the moment and they are not a happy bunch. After making an excellent return to the Championship last year and just missing out on what looked like a certain play off place, they seem determined to go backwards rather than forwards. Could be a turbulent season once again up at Elland Road.

Sky Sports 

Another tough year of disappointment for The Whites according to Sky Sports who are predicting an 11th placed finish for Simon Grayson’s side. It should be noted that they did predict we’d finish 19th last season!

Grayson is doubly determined to steer Leeds towards another promotion challenge after narrowly missing out on the play-offs last season. But competition in the second tier is getting ever stronger and following a summer of limited rebuilding a top-six finish might be beyond them.

Ollie Holt – Daily Mirror

The Chief sports writer of the Daily Mirror reckons Leeds United have what it takes to secure a play-off spot this season;

I’m going to go for West Ham and Burnley to be promoted automatically from Championship. Forest, Blackpool, Leeds and Brighton for playoffs

Michael Owen – Professional bench warmer

No mention of Leeds United in Michael Owen’s Championship predictions;

I’m going for Leicester as Champions with Forest going up with them. Play Off teams being West Ham, Ipswich, Burnley, Blackpool.

Other predictions 

I’ve contacted a few other people for their predictions and will continue to update as they come in. If you know of any we’ve missed from the national rags or other sites, please post a link below and we’ll add them in.