Leeds Chief Defends Transfer Policy

Leeds chief executive Shaun Harvey has defended the transfer policy at Elland Road after the club's failure to attract "six or seven" summer targets.Chairman Ken Bates has come in for increasing criticism since the end of last season for a perceived reluctance to invest in players, but Harvey insists Simon Grayson has a playing budget "a majority of managers in this division would be happy to work with".Harvey told the Yorkshire Evening Post: "This summer the challenge was to improve a side who had finished seventh in the Championship. As a process of natural progression, we wanted to go for automatic promotion or failing that the play-offs. It's still our aim."There were six or seven players who we enquired about, Bosmans in the main and players who we believed would help us step beyond where we were."Gareth McAuley was a prime example. He had a choice to make and he chose to go from Ipswich to West Brom because West Brom were in the Premier League. That happened time and again."Harvey added: "It was nothing to do with money. It was primarily down to opportunity and options. At this moment we're competing for the same players as the bottom seven or eight sides in the Premier League. We weren't losing out to Championship clubs."