There is not so much a plume of white smoke rising from Elland Road, as promised by Andrea Radrizzani two weeks ago, as black smoke billowing across Beeston as the board set fire to the legacy left by Marcelo Bielsa.
I’ve been generally supportive of the current board, after all they have been fairly sane and successful compared to previous regimes, not that that’s difficult. There have been errors of judgement of course; Myanmar, that badge and Jean-Kévin Augustin to name a few. But overall, the positives had outweighed the negatives and they got one big decision right, the appointment Marcelo Bielsa. It was a balsy move but dragging Leeds United out of the Championship after 16 years needed a balsy move and it paid off.
For three great seasons Leeds United had an identity, a philosophy that all the fans could get behind. Most importantly we were winning football matches. With Premiership football regained, a ninth place finish in 2020-2021 gave the club a solid platform to build on. But the board didn’t heed the warnings of ‘second season syndrome’ and failed to invest significantly in the right areas during the summer of 2021. With Victor Orta reportedly already tracking Jesse Marsch perhaps they were holding back until their brought their new man in next summer.
With Bielsa’s side floundering amidst an unprecedented injury crisis, the board yet again failed to invest in January despite supporters crying out for much needed reinforcements. As Leeds spluttered further through February 2022 the board made their move, out went Bielsa and in came Marsch. The new coach, we were told, was a natural successor to Bielsa, the one to evolve the team and take us forward. Whist Marsch did keep us up, I’m still not convinced Bielsa would have done any worse over those 12 games, it quickly became clear that his style was no evolution of Bielsa’s and that Marsch was very much out of his depth.
I’m not going to argue with the decision to sack Marsch. He was in my opinion completely out of his depth in the Premier League, just as he was in the Bundesliga. Had it not been for lucky results he would have been out of a job before the World Cup, but he always did just enough to keep his job despite Leeds being in an ever-precarious position. Many will disagree with my view, but that’s football, a sport of opinions. For all the joy that the Chelsea result gave me, performances across the season were not good and Marsch’s management speak press conferences failed to address the reality of our situation or prove that he had answers to the problems we could all see.
What I can’t forgive is making the decision without a replacement lined-up. Whilst Radrizzani was optimistically announcing an appointment would be made by the weekend on Twitter, it was clear things were not going to plan as prospective candidate after candidate pulled out of the running leaving a Futsal coach in charge. Michael Skubala may have got two decent performance out of the team against Manchester United, and he seems like a decent guy, but he does not have the experience for a Premier League relegation scrap. Especially up against the wily old heads of Dyche and Moyes.
By this time next week Leeds United could be bottom of the Premier League with relegation a very real possibility. No Premier League status, no European football, no expanded stadium. With their legacy burning around them, the board need to act fast and decisively. Their managerial appointments so far, Bielsa aside, have been poor. The next one needs to be a good one, even if only for the short term and they need to make it soon else witness everything Bielsa built for them disappear in smoke.
meant that without his world class coaching they were not able to compete at all..... Marsch was a shocking appointment..... agreed, but that new manager bounce where players try to impress the new guy saved us. I also think if we're being objective that if we had a half way decent striker who doesnt need 7 expected goals to score 1 Marsch would still be in a job and we would be 6-9 points clear. The fact that we have a shite squad is that we havent chose to improve it significantly for 2 out of three years after promotion.
