Graham Smyth explains latest details behind Leeds United’s bid to clear Javi Gracia amid Brexit confusion - YEP 24/2/23

The YEP’s sport team has explained the latest as Leeds United attempt to clear new boss Javi Gracia to work.

By Jamie Kemble

Leeds United’s process to get Javi Gracia cleared to manage the team has been detailed.

Gracia was announced as Jesse Marsch’s successor earlier this week, but he is not yet able to get to work. That’s because post-Brexit rules mean managers who don’t automatically have the right to work in the UK must meet certain criteria to get their work permit, and Gracia does not meet the initial criteria.

That doesn’t mean he will not eventually get the clearance he needs to take up his new job, but it does mean the process will take time, likely meaning he will not be officially in charge for this weekend’s relegation six-pointer with bottom club Southampton.

As the situation continues to unfold slowly, Graham Smyth has explained the process, saying on The Inside Elland Road Podcast: “The FA can issue a governing body exemption to the current post-Brexit immigration guidelines. The Home Office and the FA came up with this criteria that managers and players have to meet to take up a post.

“It’s all really based around the calibre of the person you are bringing in. They want the person you are bringing in to have full control of the team, they want the team to not have a manager in place, they also want you to have managed in what they call a ‘top league’ in three years of the last five or two years consecutively out of the last five.

“There is also stipulations over managing an international team, but that doesn’t matter in this case. Gracia hasn’t managed in what they call a ‘top league’ for three years or two years consecutively in the last five. He comes pretty close to the three years given he was at Watford for 18 months in that period, he was at Valencia for nine months and Al-Sadd for six. But the Qatar Stars league does not count because it is not in bands 1-5 that the FA count towards top leagues.

“Band one, you are talking European big five, while Band 5 includes the Chinese Super League and the Polish league. The Qatar league is, I believe, band six, so it doesn’t apply, and Gracia doesn’t quite meet the threshold.

“So, if he doesn’t qualify automatically, which I don’t think he does, he has to go to an exemptions panel, which is convened by the FA, with a legally qualified chair, and then two persons who have relevant experience at the top level of the game. Then, what the club has to do is put together evidence to show that they can be satisfied that this man is of the highest calibre and can make a significant contribution towards football at the top level in this country.”