Birmingham City v Leeds United: It’s job done for Mac despite away agony
YEP 22/4/13
By Phil Hay
Whatever ambitions occupy Brian McDermott’s mind, managing in League One is not one of them. “Nothing’s beneath me,” he said after Saturday’s defeat to Birmingham City but coaches in their prime have a lower limit. The Championship is surely his.
When McDermott signed a three-year deal with Leeds United, the risk was entirely his own at a club where the walls were closing in. He spoke about relegation with a casual air but the truth emerged at St Andrews. “We’ll definitely be playing in this league next season,” he said. “I can sleep tonight.”
Leeds reached a position of safety by default at the weekend, eradicating any doubt in spite of losing their 44th league fixture. In reality they were assured of another season in the Championship by the outcome of McDermott’s first two games in charge, a home win over Sheffield Wednesday and another against Burnley. Mathematics aside, it did not seem feasible that the club would be relegated ahead of their match at Birmingham.
McDermott nonetheless oozed satisfaction and relief. “As far as I’m concerned, that’s job done,” he said, for the time being anyway. So fickle is football that the depths of United’s anxiety two weeks ago are easily forgotten but there was a reason why the search for Neil Warnock’s replacement moved from a patient process to an urgent appointment in a matter of days. Relegation crept up on the board at Elland Road.
Their choice of manager was the boss who won the Championship title at Reading last year. McDermott’s reputation went before him and it was naturally assumed that he would sew this season up but he was alone in asking whether the last five games might drag him beneath his class, into League One.
“The most important thing for me when I turned up here two weeks ago, putting my reputation on the line, was to make sure Leeds stayed in this division,” he said. “It’s really important that we are where we are.
“I’ve no disappointments whatsoever. We’re in this league, we knew what we had to do and the lads have given me everything.
You’re always unhappy when you don’t win a game but when you look at where we could have been three games ago, compared to where we are now, this gives us the opportunity to build and do what we have to do.
“We had five games to go when I came in and you can say ‘oh, it (relegation) won’t happen’ but that’s just talk. You have to produce it on the pitch and the players have done that. I’m delighted with them.
“They had two games under me at home and we won them both. They were pressure games. I’d never have said that beforehand but anything can happen in the space of five games. If you’ve got 40-odd games then you know where you’re going to end up. I had five and for me to come in and put my reputation on the line, I had to think long and hard about it.”
The five games in question are McDermott’s opportunity to analyse Leeds in the flesh but their form over the previous 41 matches gives him more to ponder. So too does an horrific away record which shows 12 defeats and compares to the worst in the division. No United manager has ever won his first three league fixtures so, to an extent, McDermott was fighting with history on Saturday. But as telling at St Andrews were the weaknesses and shortcomings which brought about his appointment in the first place.
It was, in its entirety, a 50-50 game from which United should have taken no less than a point. A goalless period at the start of the second half when the match ran further and further into Birmingham’s half of the pitch was a critical spell, particularly once Hayden Mullins poached the only goal with a 72nd-minute tap-in. City found an advantage through the skill of Nathan Redmond and Ravel Morrison, two young prodigies who have bothered Leeds before. Both were a class apart.
McDermott was asked afterwards if players of that ilk and pace were the sort of targets he would set himself in the summer transfer market. “I think so,” he said. “You need pace and power in this league, especially over 46 games. We need to address that.
“We do need a bit more pace but, more than that, we need additions to the squad which will help to make a difference. We need to recruit as well as we possibly can. Recruitment is vital and I’m working on it. It’s what I did for almost 10 years.”
Morrison struck United’s crossbar with a chipped finish over Paddy Kenny in the 13th minute and Redmond’s 20-yard strike – parried weakly by United’s goalkeeper – presented Mullins with his simple goal. On his 550th league appearance, the midfielder scored for only the 32nd time. “I didn’t put him in there to score,” joked Birmingham’s boss, Lee Clark. Leeds did not regain their hold after that.
Before Mullins’ strike, United’s chances were as plentiful as Birmingham’s if not quite so glaring.
McDermott’s midfield diamond struggled for possession, highlighting an area which requires attention in the summer, but Luke Varney almost scored after a first half error by City keeper Jack Butland, and Michael Tonge’s long-range shot was palmed over the crossbar.
In reply, Morrison whipped a shot inches wide of Kenny’s net and Mullins wasted an opportunity to bury the ball from close range.
As he had in his previous games as manager, McDermott digested a steady first half and inspired more from the second. Three quick chances fell to Ross McCormack, all of them difficult and all of them missed, and Butland’s poor handling in the 64th minute gave Sam Byram the sight of an open goal. The angle of the defender’s finish was impossibly tight and the ball smashed into the side-netting.
Birmingham rarely ventured into United’s half in that passage of the match but when Redmond used a sudden attack to spin a shot off Kenny’s hands, Mullins ran in unmarked to dispatch the rebound. The final 18 minutes offered no reprieve for Leeds as Steve Morison entered the fray and the energetic Rodolph Austin was lost to injury.
“We had a few players who were struggling with 10 minutes to go,” McDermott said. “We’ve played three games in a week and it was a big ask. Next season we want to make sure that we play three games in a week and it’s not a big ask. But we definitely should have got something out of the game. At 0-0 we were on top and they scored with a goal from nothing. I’ve absolutely no disappointments.”
Whatever ambitions occupy Brian McDermott’s mind, managing in League One is not one of them. “Nothing’s beneath me,” he said after Saturday’s defeat to Birmingham City but coaches in their prime have a lower limit. The Championship is surely his.
When McDermott signed a three-year deal with Leeds United, the risk was entirely his own at a club where the walls were closing in. He spoke about relegation with a casual air but the truth emerged at St Andrews. “We’ll definitely be playing in this league next season,” he said. “I can sleep tonight.”
Leeds reached a position of safety by default at the weekend, eradicating any doubt in spite of losing their 44th league fixture. In reality they were assured of another season in the Championship by the outcome of McDermott’s first two games in charge, a home win over Sheffield Wednesday and another against Burnley. Mathematics aside, it did not seem feasible that the club would be relegated ahead of their match at Birmingham.
McDermott nonetheless oozed satisfaction and relief. “As far as I’m concerned, that’s job done,” he said, for the time being anyway. So fickle is football that the depths of United’s anxiety two weeks ago are easily forgotten but there was a reason why the search for Neil Warnock’s replacement moved from a patient process to an urgent appointment in a matter of days. Relegation crept up on the board at Elland Road.
Their choice of manager was the boss who won the Championship title at Reading last year. McDermott’s reputation went before him and it was naturally assumed that he would sew this season up but he was alone in asking whether the last five games might drag him beneath his class, into League One.
“The most important thing for me when I turned up here two weeks ago, putting my reputation on the line, was to make sure Leeds stayed in this division,” he said. “It’s really important that we are where we are.
“I’ve no disappointments whatsoever. We’re in this league, we knew what we had to do and the lads have given me everything.
You’re always unhappy when you don’t win a game but when you look at where we could have been three games ago, compared to where we are now, this gives us the opportunity to build and do what we have to do.
“We had five games to go when I came in and you can say ‘oh, it (relegation) won’t happen’ but that’s just talk. You have to produce it on the pitch and the players have done that. I’m delighted with them.
“They had two games under me at home and we won them both. They were pressure games. I’d never have said that beforehand but anything can happen in the space of five games. If you’ve got 40-odd games then you know where you’re going to end up. I had five and for me to come in and put my reputation on the line, I had to think long and hard about it.”
The five games in question are McDermott’s opportunity to analyse Leeds in the flesh but their form over the previous 41 matches gives him more to ponder. So too does an horrific away record which shows 12 defeats and compares to the worst in the division. No United manager has ever won his first three league fixtures so, to an extent, McDermott was fighting with history on Saturday. But as telling at St Andrews were the weaknesses and shortcomings which brought about his appointment in the first place.
It was, in its entirety, a 50-50 game from which United should have taken no less than a point. A goalless period at the start of the second half when the match ran further and further into Birmingham’s half of the pitch was a critical spell, particularly once Hayden Mullins poached the only goal with a 72nd-minute tap-in. City found an advantage through the skill of Nathan Redmond and Ravel Morrison, two young prodigies who have bothered Leeds before. Both were a class apart.
McDermott was asked afterwards if players of that ilk and pace were the sort of targets he would set himself in the summer transfer market. “I think so,” he said. “You need pace and power in this league, especially over 46 games. We need to address that.
“We do need a bit more pace but, more than that, we need additions to the squad which will help to make a difference. We need to recruit as well as we possibly can. Recruitment is vital and I’m working on it. It’s what I did for almost 10 years.”
Morrison struck United’s crossbar with a chipped finish over Paddy Kenny in the 13th minute and Redmond’s 20-yard strike – parried weakly by United’s goalkeeper – presented Mullins with his simple goal. On his 550th league appearance, the midfielder scored for only the 32nd time. “I didn’t put him in there to score,” joked Birmingham’s boss, Lee Clark. Leeds did not regain their hold after that.
Before Mullins’ strike, United’s chances were as plentiful as Birmingham’s if not quite so glaring.
McDermott’s midfield diamond struggled for possession, highlighting an area which requires attention in the summer, but Luke Varney almost scored after a first half error by City keeper Jack Butland, and Michael Tonge’s long-range shot was palmed over the crossbar.
In reply, Morrison whipped a shot inches wide of Kenny’s net and Mullins wasted an opportunity to bury the ball from close range.
As he had in his previous games as manager, McDermott digested a steady first half and inspired more from the second. Three quick chances fell to Ross McCormack, all of them difficult and all of them missed, and Butland’s poor handling in the 64th minute gave Sam Byram the sight of an open goal. The angle of the defender’s finish was impossibly tight and the ball smashed into the side-netting.
Birmingham rarely ventured into United’s half in that passage of the match but when Redmond used a sudden attack to spin a shot off Kenny’s hands, Mullins ran in unmarked to dispatch the rebound. The final 18 minutes offered no reprieve for Leeds as Steve Morison entered the fray and the energetic Rodolph Austin was lost to injury.
“We had a few players who were struggling with 10 minutes to go,” McDermott said. “We’ve played three games in a week and it was a big ask. Next season we want to make sure that we play three games in a week and it’s not a big ask. But we definitely should have got something out of the game. At 0-0 we were on top and they scored with a goal from nothing. I’ve absolutely no disappointments.”
