FORMER Blackburn Rovers star Duncan McKenzie will be watching tomorrow's events at Ewood Park with more interest -- and anguish -- than most.
The charismatic striker, who also became an idol at Elland Road and Everton in the 1970s, has had to endure three of the teams closest to his heart battling for Premiership survival throughout this campaign.
And his nerve will be tested to the limit when Rovers host Leeds tomorrow for what is, cliches aside, a genuine six-pointer.
That will be the gap between the teams if Blackburn can pull off only their fourth home victory of the season, as they already hold a three-point lead over their opponents.
But that six-point swing will work against them if they lose at home for the 10th time this season as Leeds will draw level on points to plunge Blackburn deeper into the threat of the drop zone.
And McKenzie thinks Rovers need to regain their confidence otherwise Leeds will be the team replacing them in the bottom three at the end of the season.
And the 53-year-old is even backing Leeds to beat the drop ahead of Blackburn.
"Leeds will stay up," said McKenzie. "I watched them beat Leicester earlier in the week and they showed so much fight and spirit, you sensed they could survive despite everything that has happened.
"They are going in the right direction, while Blackburn look shot to ribbons and totally without confidence. And if you look at the players they have, the likes of Wolves and Portsmouth cannot really match up."
And McKenzie feels the forward power of Alan Smith and Mark Viduka, who both scored in Monday's 3-2 win over fellow strugglers Leicester, will be key to success at Ewood.
He added: "Although their defence leaves a lot to be desired, they have tremendous firepower up front in Mark Viduka and Alan Smith.
"When you look at teams down at the bottom, they have by far the best set of strikers and that is what will save them.
"Viduka, when he is in the mood, is an awesome centre forward and Smith just epitomises everything that is good about Leeds. He is the spirit of the club, leads by example and will do anything to keep them up.
"It has hurt me desperately to see what has been happening at Leeds, it has been horrendous to see how far they have fallen.
"It seems to have been the easy thing to blame the former chairman Peter Ridsdale, but there was a PLC board behind him who are not blameless. They took a massive gamble on Champions League football and it went wrong, that is not just the chairman's fault.
"It is fair to say that they have looked relegation goners for weeks, but I now believe they will survive."
McKenzie's affinity with Leeds is understandable considering he hit the peak of his powers at Elland Road.
He was signed for £250,000 by his ex-Nottingham Forest boss Brian Clough, who only lasted 44 days in charge in 1974.
He said: "Cloughie went there and wanted to change everything after Don Revie had gone. The old hands in the squad didn't like it and he didn't survive and I was dropped in the middle of it all.
"My style was not exactly what those Leeds players had been used to, but I somehow survived there."
He averaged a goal every two games before a short spell at Anderlecht and a move in 1976 to Goodison Park, where he equally delighted the fans with his own special brand of adventure on the pitch.
However, he had more glory days on the horizon when he joined Blackburn in 1979 and inspired them to promotion from Division Three.
But despite Saturday's tension, McKenzie will have to save some nails for biting on Tuesday, when Leeds play Everton in another crunch game.
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