Bakke wants top flight football

Leeds midfielder Eirik Bakke is dreaming of a brighter future for the club after surviving the nightmare that once engulfed Elland Road.

Bakke and Gary Kelly are the only two senior players left on United's books from the halcyon days of five years ago when Leeds reached the semi-finals of the Champions League.

In the intervening period, the club has been ripped apart by huge financial problems, and at one point almost went to the wall.

Manager Kevin Blackwell has been forced to rebuild from scratch, and after two seasons in the Coca-Cola Championship, Leeds now stand on the brink of a return to the Barclays Premiership.

Only Watford now stand in Leeds' way in Sunday's play-off final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

Bakke, who joined Leeds for £1.75million from Sogndal in the summer of 1999, said: "This will be one of the biggest matches I will have been involved in with Leeds.