Goals from Charlie Taylor and Steve ‘The Shift’ Morison went some way to avenging last years trip to Hillsborough on a day where both clubs remembered the tragedy of Bradford City’s stadium fire.

Hillsborough, infamous for it’s own stadium tragedy, has changed hands since Leeds’ last visit and after a season as disappointing as Leeds’ own, Sheffield Wednesday can look forward to next season with new owners and heightened expectations.

It should perhaps be the same at Leeds. In many ways, 2014/15 went according to plan. Despite the ill-considered appointments of David Hockaday and Darko Milanic, Leeds overcame a brief scare and will finish as comfortably mid-table as most had expected after a year of transition many saw as the cost for a serious promotion push next term.

And in fairness, that plan is still entirely possible. Few of last season’s imports have been a roaring success, but Mirco Antenucci and Marco Silvestri have settled well while Gaetano Berardi seems to have found his feet in recent weeks and won the majority of fans over.

The big success story of the season however was the youngsters. Lewis Cook, Charlie Taylor and Alex Mowatt have stolen the show, while the immensely talented Sam Byram rediscovered his form under Neil Redfearn and Luke Murphy finally started to fulfil his own potential.

Those eight players alone could form the nucleus of a squad strong enough to be serious contenders next season, but there are fears the return of Massimo Cellino could see Neil Redfearn dismissed and if that should happen, we lose the only semblance of stability this club has. An exodus of players would undoubtedly follow and come August we’ll be lining up with a whole new cast of characters for yet another turn on the transitional season merry-go-round.

You may feel the future of our young stars isn’t intrinsically linked to that of Neil Redfearn and there’s some truth to that – they may leave regardless. But if you look at the situation from their point of view, he’s one of the few reasons for them to stay at Elland Road. On the one hand you have agents lining up Premier League deals with secure, big money paydays at clubs without the drama and chaos of Leeds United, whereas on the other, your fate is anchored to the whims of Massimo Cellino.

The dismissal of Neil Redfearn, a man our young players highly respect and want to play for, would confirm what many already fear – that this club is incapable of creating the stable environment necessary to succeed while Cellino is in charge.

But in rewarding Neil Redfearn with the new contract his performance so surely deserves and giving him full control of the footballing side of things (as it should be), including the power to hire and dismiss his own coaching staff, Cellino can still send the right signals.

Suddenly, from a club in total disarray looking destined for yet another season of chaos, Leeds United becomes an attractive proposition. There’ll undoubtedly be Premier League interest in our young talent and there’s no question they can pay more than we can, but here you have a group of kids who’ve grown up together, are close friends and whose only opportunity to stay together would likely be success at Leeds United – something that would look entirely realistic if the club nails itself to the stability of Neil Redfearn and builds upon the work he did in 2014/15.

Eddie Gray believes we can be contenders under Redfearn and he’s more qualified than most to make such an assessment. The future of Neil Redfearn wouldn’t be in question at any other club, there’d be recognition of the great work he’s done under frustrating circumstances and his contract would have been extended months ago, all while the powers that be start tying down key players for next season.

Make no mistake, as difficult and trying as this season has been, Leeds can be genuine challengers in 2016. And that’s what’s so frustrating. Having the opportunity to finally return to the promised land hinge upon the whims of an erratic Italian whose decision-making (Milanic, Hockaday, Thompson arguably) is hard to have any faith in is infuriating.

Sheffield Wednesday will be an interesting yardstick for Leeds to measure progress by next season. Their new owners have had half a season to assess the situation and determine what work needs to be done and I fully expect they’ll be a stronger outfit come August. Leeds could be too. But whether we build upon 2014/15 and are genuine contenders next season or are once again consumed by the chaos depends on one man. And what he’ll do next is anyone’s guess…