Andy Huntertalks to midfielder David Prutton who has played an integral part in Leeds United's success this season as they battled with early setbacks.
"WE HAD a cause and people with causes can be very difficult to barter with." So said Alex Ferguson, May 21st, 2008.
It is considered unhealthy at Leeds United to concur with anyone or anything at Manchester United but Ferguson's theory on lifting the European Cup 50 years after Munich will have resonated at Elland Road this week.
Before a ball was kicked this season Leeds had their own cause to carry courtesy of a 15-point deduction for entering administration and that perceived injustice hardened when their appeal was recently rejected. It is a cause, David Prutton believes, that should inspire Leeds when they attempt to return to the Championship against Doncaster Rovers at Wembley tomorrow.
The midfielder says: "The punishment has brought the club together. We knew the boat we were in and we knew we had to fight our way out of this league. But we are not going into the final thinking it will be two fingers to everyone if we win. We want to achieve something as a team. This has been a special year in a lot of respects. You can go through your career making acquaintances rather than friends but this is a team where everyone really gets on with each other and that is quite rare."
Prutton credits the former manager Dennis Wise with fusing a formidable team spirit from the disparate band of brothers he signed only when a transfer embargo lifted weeks before this season began. The loss of the influential assistant manager, Gus Poyet, followed by the abrupt departure to Newcastle of Wise in January, merely improved the camaraderie that the manager, Gary McAllister, hopes to utilise at Wembley.
"It's bizarre," the 26-year-old Prutton adds. "You would think if everything was running smoothly it would be easier to get everyone's minds in gear. Maybe it is a natural resilience that we have. Dennis Wise thrived on adversity and proving people wrong throughout his career and I think he really instilled that in the lads."
Prutton, a former England Under-21 international, was enticed to Elland Road on a free transfer from Southampton last summer, four years after he had moved to the south coast from Nottingham Forest.
He joined knowing the consequences of administration meant he would not be paid immediately. "It was a case of we will get it sorted next week, then it would be the week after," the Hull-born midfielder recalls. "In the end I just thought I'd wait until they called me into the office."
His patience has paid rich dividends so far. Integral to this season's initial success under Wise and then, restored to his favoured central midfield role, to Leeds' final push under McAllister, Prutton has revived a career that may not have hit the heights expected of him at Forest but which holds no regrets. "I'm happy with my career," he insists. "I have learned a lot and the most interesting thing has been my personal development."
Such philosophical musings are probably to be expected of a man whose hirsute appearance has coined the moniker "Jesus" among the Leeds faithful. Prutton is happy to play along. "You don't get many people with long hair up north, do you?" he says. "We were playing York in pre-season and I got talking to some fella who asked, 'What about this Prutton lad?' I had to tell him it was me in case he started slagging me off. In the second half I was warming up and the same fella and his mates were all chanting, 'There's only one Shaun Derry'. Didn't have a clue who I was."
Redemption for the man they call Jesus, and in some way for Leeds United, could be close at hand. Guardian Service
