England's fallen giants are on their way back - says Leeds legend

Peter Lorimer believes Leeds have taken the first step on the ladder back to the very top of English football.

The Elland Road legend, 63, insists it is only a matter of time before his old team are firmly established as a top six side in the Premier League, and that they are as big a club as the likes of ­Tottenham and Aston Villa.

Leeds crashed out of the top flight seven years ago, then ­spiralled into ­financial meltdown before dropping embarrassingly into ­England’s third tier.

But, under the shrewd stewardship of manager Simon Grayson — Leeds born and bred and a lifetime United fan — the one-time Kings of England are now on the way up again after a ­decade in the doldrums.

And promotion to the Championship, clinched on the back of a dramatic ­final-day-of-the-season win over Bristol Rovers three months ago, is simply the start of another sweet spell of success for the reviving ­Yorkshire giants.

At least, that is the way Lorimer sees it.

The former Scotland winger — United’s all-time record scorer with 238 goals from 676 appearances in the ­famous all-white strip — ­enthused: “I firmly believe we have the potential to be the best team in the country again — certainly one of England’s top six clubs.

“Look at Spurs and Villa and what they achieved last ­season. We can do what they have done because we are every bit as big as them. And, when you look at the size of our fan base — we had 38,000 for that Bristol Rovers game — then that shows we are not only as big as those two, but bigger than most clubs in the Premier League.

“I know how big we are and what we are capable of.

“But you only get to the top and achieve what you want to in this game by putting in the hard work and hard yards.

“You don’t just get there ­simply by saying, ‘We are a big club because of our history and tradition.’

“We can be at the pinnacle again, but we must earn it. When you can command crowds of 38,000 like we do, though, then the whole of ­football knows and ­appreciates what kind of club this is.”

Apart from a European Cup winner’s medal, Lorimer won the lot as a member of master manager Don Revie’s ­all-conquering team of the ­sixties and seventies.

He made his debut for them at 15 years old and enjoyed two spells at Elland Road as a player before finally hanging up his boots at 40. Lorimer is now a director at his old club and sees ­similarities to the late, great Revie in the way manager Grayson goes about the job.

He said: “Don galvanised us into a team full of passion, spirit and desire, and Simon has done the same with the current squad.

“Simon is doing a ­terrific job and, being a local lad and a lifetime Leeds fan, it would mean the world to him to lead us back to the top.

“Don’t bet against him doing just that.

“Players can never win enough medals and clubs can never win enough ­silverware.

“We have had all that here before and we want it in the future.

“I believe that it will come around for Leeds United again.”