With Leeds' playoff hopes all but over, the fans can't be blamed for turning their attention to next season, although few are looking forward with much optimism.

The club have recently made a new contract offer to Robert Snodgrass with Warnock personally asking him for one more season in which he hopes to get the club promoted, unsuprisingly, Snodgrass hasn't exactly jumped at the chance.

Reports suggest that Snodgrass is waiting to see the calibre of player Warnock is allowed to bring in before signing on the dotted line, whilst Bates has stated that the contract offer made is the highest we can afford, a line that will sound eerily familiar to any Leeds fan.  There has been a problem with negotiating contracts for a while now, too many players have failed to agree new terms and left the club for it to be mere coincidence and the clubs apparant lack of desire to tie players down before their final year leaves most fans ripping their hair out, season after season.

This, understandably, makes it hard to believe that any significant investment in the team will be on the horizon in the near future, despite the positive quotes from Warnock about the type of players he wants to bring in.

The next few weeks will give fans a real idea of what to expect from next season, you cant help but think that whatever decision Snodgrass makes will be an indication of whether any realistic investment will be fortcoming, it'll also show just how much determination Ken Bates really has in ensuring Leeds return to the country's elite. The decision by Snodgrass is clearly a massive one, if he signs it'll renew a lot of optimism in the fans who might actually start looking forward to the summer, if he doesn't it'd be hard to imagine anything other than a long, dissapointing one.

On a lighter note, for those that are eternally optimistic, Leeds could still theoretically make the playoffs, or at least be in with a shout. Quite simply, if we beat Blackpool on Tuesday and they then go on to lose their next game, Leeds could be two points off the playoffs on the final day. The same applies with Cardiff, if they lose their next game, then to Leeds, we could also only be 2 points away on the final day. This of course also requires almost every team above us to lose their last few games, but I did say this was for the eternally optimistic.

In short, the season isn't quite over but the summer has already started for the fans, by the end of May we'll know whether our captain wants to stay, whether any investment is on it's way and ultimately, whether we'll be putting up a challenge next season or preparing for another dissapointing year.

At least England will win the Euros.

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