On the contrary, I believe it makes Leadership matter more. Either that or it matters the exact same. But it definitely doesn't make it matter less.
The CPUs being locked at 40 Leadership and Experience would prevent team AND individual morale from going up past a certain point on successful teams. So even if a team made a concerted effort to have high morale-giving stats, their individual player morale would only go so high. While now it will just be higher in general, at least if a team did want to make that effort, there wouldn't really be a limit as to how high it could go.