Grayson committed to Leeds project

Soccer: Leeds boss Simon Grayson has told any club casting admiring glances in his direction to forget it

Soccer: Leeds boss Simon Grayson has told any club casting admiring glances in his direction to forget it. With the managerial merry-go-round about to start spinning as Bolton wait to speak with Owen Coyle, minds are already beginning to turn to who Burnley might turn to if, as expected, their Scottish boss quits for the Reebok Stadium.

Grayson is bound to figure high on that list, having impressed at Blackpool before leaving for Leeds 12 months ago, since when he has patiently built a team that look certain to gain promotion to the Coca-Cola Championship this season.

His blossoming reputation was further enhanced when Leeds recorded their first win at Old Trafford since 1981, dumping Manchester United out of the FA Cup to book a fourth-round trip to Tottenham.

However, any thought Burnley might have of offering someone familiar with the area a chance to cut his managerial teeth in the Premier League can be dismissed immediately.

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"My commitment to Leeds United has never been in question," said Grayson. "I left Blackpool a year ago to join the football club I supported.

"Leeds is a fantastic football club and I am not interested in going anywhere else."

Yesterday's match-winner Jermaine Beckford may be toying with the idea of moving up the leagues with Newcastle, but Grayson believes he can achieve all his managerial ambitions by staying where he is.

The chance of restoring a club who reached the Champions League semi-finals in 2001 to former glories was the carrot that enticed him away from Blackpool in the first place.

And, at such an early stage of an enormous project, Grayson has no intention of walking away.

"Leeds do not just have an English fanbase. It is Europe and worldwide," he said.

"But we are in League One for a reason. The only way we get back into the big time is by reaching the Championship and then the Premier League.

"Hopefully that will be the case over the next few years.

"Maybe one day people will look back at the 2010 team that won at Old Trafford in the FA Cup.

"It is that kind of stage players want to perform on and I certainly want to go back there in the next few years managing Leeds United in the Premier League."

-PA