How 49ers Enterprises has restructured Leeds United hierarchy - The Athletic 21/7/23
Phil Hay
The takeover of Leeds United on Monday yielded the closest
thing anyone might get to a mea culpa from Andrea Radrizzani.
Radrizzani was vacating his position as majority shareholder
at Elland Road and in an interview with Sky, there was contrition about the way
it had ended: Leeds relegated from the Premier League, his standing as chairman
diminished, mistakes in running the club laid bare.
One of those errors, Radrizzani conceded, lay squarely with
recruitment. For almost six years, scouting and transfers at Leeds had been the
domain of Victor Orta and Radrizzani found himself saying what others had been
telling him. Too few of the more expensive signings came good. Not enough were
ready for the Premier League. The model of focusing on players with potential
had been flawed, as relegation proved.
“If I would go back, I would be more careful of a couple of
things,” Radrizzani told Sky. “First of all, following unconditionally Victor —
who is very talented — in our phase of the club, in only three years in the
Premier League, could be dangerous. Why? Because Victor tends to focus his
scouting on players that still have to show they are good enough.
“If you spend over £100million in one transfer market in the
summer, you need to consider having maybe one or two players who are mature and
have national team experience, and character to stay in the picture. I think
that’s what we lacked. Victor’s challenge was too much — to take coaches or
players that come from the Austrian league and expect them to perform in the
Premier League. With all respect, the gap is too big.
“But I am responsible the same because I was not somewhere
else. I was here. So I have to (accept) blame as well.”
Leeds, under new ownership, want to be mindful of lessons
learned. The process of getting the club back out of the EFL is underway in
earnest after 49ers Enterprises’ buy-out of Radrizzani this week and already, a
new hierarchy is forming at Elland Road: in the boardroom, in the recruitment
department and at their training ground. They intend to be a different outfit
with different ideas and the process of change is underway, both with personnel
and management structure.
Here, The Athletic outlines the chain of command…
Paraag Marathe (chairman)
Marathe is the head of the board at Elland Road, an
appointment which was in the pipeline from the moment 49ers Enterprises turned
its initial investment in Leeds into a plan to buy the club outright. At
present, he is one of four United directors, alongside businessmen Rudy
Cline-Thomas and Peter Lowy and chief executive Angus Kinnear. It remains to be
seen if further appointments to the board materialise.
Lowy and Kinnear were existing directors prior to this
week’s takeover, as was Marathe. Cline-Thomas, one of the biggest players in
the 49ers’ fund, has taken on the position of vice-chairman — the post that
Marathe held while Radrizzani was chairman. Radrizzani’s ties with Leeds have
been cut completely.
Marathe will continue to be based predominantly in the USA,
balancing overall management of Leeds with existing responsibilities at the San
Francisco 49ers and 49ers Enterprises, the NFL franchise’s investment vehicle
which put together the bid to buy United. But as the ultimate point of authority,
he will have more involvement in day-to-day strategic operations at Elland Road
than Cline-Thomas or Lowy. Kinnear as CEO, for example, answers directly to
Marathe.
Angus Kinnear (CEO)
Kinnear, formerly employed by West Ham United and Arsenal,
has been Leeds’ chief executive since 2017, appointed in the same summer
Radrizzani bought the club from Massimo Cellino — and Orta became director of
football.
Though Radrizzani sold up on Monday and Orta left Elland
Road in early May, Kinnear was earmarked to remain in his existing job once the
buy-out went through. Despite Leeds’ relegation, and despite Kinnear attracting
criticism because of it, Marathe and 49ers Enterprises saw him as an asset at
executive level, a CEO they rated and wanted to hold onto.
Kinnear played a very active role in finalising the
post-relegation takeover agreement between Radrizzani and 49ers Enterprises
after the end of last season. Prior to that, there was no contingency for
whether Leeds would be sold — and, more specifically, precisely what price
49ers Enterprises would pay — if the club dropped down to the Championship. The
US group relied on Kinnear to help get a fresh deal done and secure EFL
approval for it. He was also part of the process which led to Daniel Farke
arriving as first-team manager two weeks ago.
Kinnear’s remit, as a whole, is typical of a chief executive
at a large football club. It is his job to oversee the finances and keep close
tabs on the EFL’s Profit and Sustainability limits. He has long been the club’s
representative at Premier League and EFL meetings, and final completion of
transfers and contracts falls to him. While others above him give final
approval, he is the person who signs the paperwork off.
In the revised structure at Elland Road, he is also the
person who other key figures will answer to in the first instance: from Farke
to new technical director Gretar Steinsson, head of medicine and performance
Rob Price, new head of football operations Adam Underwood, head of football
administration Hannah Cox and interim football advisor Nick Hammond. That tier
of staff is managed by Kinnear, who in turn feeds back to Marathe. Radrizzani’s
exit has in no way lessened Kinnear’s seniority.
Daniel Farke (manager)
Leeds went through three head coaches last season — Jesse
Marsch, Javi Gracia and Sam Allardyce — and the specific job title at Elland
Road has effectively been in place since Garry Monk’s departure in 2017. It was
very much a feature of Orta’s setup.
Farke, in contrast, specifically asked to have the title of
manager, rather than head coach, and his request was not semantics. He wanted
meaningful authority and a big influence on the recruitment of players. Leeds
agreed when they appointed him that Farke would have the freedom to recommend
targets. Any bids tabled would be sanctioned by him before they were submitted.
In effect, Farke has been given final say on incomings.
On Orta’s watch, recruitment was dictated far more by him.
It was not that head coaches had no influence — Marcelo Bielsa was strict on
refusing signings he didn’t fancy — but there were occasions when Orta’s ideas
won out. In January, for example, Marsch was keen on Wolves forward Hwang
Hee-chan. Instead, Leeds plumped for Georginio Rutter from Hoffenheim, with
Orta judging it to be a better investment. 49ers Enterprises appears to be
placing more power back in the hands of Farke.
The German is expected to work closely with Steinsson and
Hammond on that front but he will not be dictated to when it comes to which
players to take. Ethan Ampadu, Leeds’ £7million ($9m) arrival from Chelsea, was
approached with Farke’s say-so. It will work like that for the rest of the
summer window.
Below him, Farke has a familiar backroom team: an assistant
in Eddie Riemer, a first-team coach in Christopher John, a performance coach in
Chris Domogalla and a goalkeeping coach in Ed Wootten. Between them, they have
a range of responsibilities for training and analysis. All have worked with
Farke before and were with him at Norwich City where Farke won promotion from
the Championship twice.
Gretar Steinsson (technical director)
The former Tottenham Hotspur performance director was
appointed by Leeds on Tuesday after emerging as the top choice from a
recruitment process carried out last month. Interviews for the position were
held around the same time United’s hierarchy was meeting candidates in London
for the manager’s job.
As technical director, Steinsson is not a like-for-like
replacement for Orta. Orta, in the guise of director of football, was higher up
in the chain of command and was considered to be more senior than Leeds’ head
coach. In the Radrizzani regime, he would take part in board meetings whereas
Steinsson, like Farke and others, is set up to report to Kinnear. It creates a
degree of separation from the top tier of management which, on the basis of
Radrizzani’s remarks this week, might be a sensible move, preventing too much
authority lying in one pair of hands.
Steinsson will manage the scouting team at Elland Road and
work on implementing a future strategy for player recruitment, alongside the task
of pursuing and courting specific targets. Hammond is continuing to work on
that front too and Craig Dean remains in post as head of emerging talent,
focusing on deals at academy level like the £200,000 purchase of 16-year-old
Lewis Pirie from Aberdeen last week. A key to the success of the model will be
Steinsson’s relationship with Farke who, as mentioned above, intends to have a
big influence on the rebuilding of his squad for the Championship.
The structure as it is does leave scope for Leeds to revisit
the option of installing a director of football if, in time, they decide they
need one. When Hammond was brought in on an interim basis last month, United
indicated they were in the market for a new director of football and would aim
to appoint by October. But Steinsson’s interview was impressive enough to land
him the technical director’s position, despite interest in other options like
Brentford’s Lee Dykes. Leeds saw value in bringing him on board in this window
and for the time being, they will let this set-up evolve.
Nick Hammond (interim football consultant)
Enlisting Steinsson so soon has not signalled the end of
Hammond’s time with Leeds. Hammond came to the club on a short-term contract
with the responsibility of taking charge of their transfer business in a period
when they had no head coach and no director of football, and he is expected to
see that deal out.
Though United’s first new signing (Ampadu) did not arrive
until Wednesday morning, Hammond — the former Reading director of football —
initiated the process of moving players out of Elland Road and making enquiries
about potential recruits. Leeds have seen multiple departures from their
first-team squad to this point, the most recent of them Marc Roca’s loan switch
to Real Betis. His input avoided Farke from having to attack the transfer
market cold as soon as he arrived.
Steinsson’s permanent appointment increases the size and
clout of the recruitment department but Leeds have been impressed by Hammond
and, although his contract only runs to the end of the summer, the club are
considering whether he might have a part to play in the longer term. For now,
the priority for him, Steinsson and Farke is to follow up the capture of Ampadu
with further additions and use the rest of the window to make United properly
competitive in the Championship. It is a window in which transfer business is
highly likely to run to the wire.
Adam Underwood (head of football operations)
Underwood has been at Leeds for more than a decade and is a
well-known face at Thorp Arch. He has managed the club’s academy since 2009,
heavily involved in the job of bringing it up to category one status in 2020.
For now, academy duties will continue to be his, although
Leeds are considering recruiting someone else to take on that task. Under-21s
coach Michael Skubala, part of the first-team setup towards the end of last
season, will liaise with Underwood as before and run the development squad in
the campaign ahead.
But Underwood’s new title, head of football operations,
gives him senior responsibility for first-team logistics and player care, along
with the management of the training ground itself. In effect, he will handle
all aspects of preparation and organisation which go on around Farke’s work and
attempt to ensure that different departments function properly. This is not a
coaching or analytical position; more about keeping the wheels turning
smoothly.
Rob Price (head of medicine and performance)
Price is another well-established member of staff, the man
who has run Leeds’ medical department for the past five years. His role is
unchanged following the takeover and he holds the same job title as before —
head of medicine and performance.
His duties are as you would expect: dealing with injuries to
players, overseeing treatment and operations, monitoring physical performance
data, managing medicals for prospective new signings and arranging
rehabilitation programmes. One of his biggest tasks in the past few years was
leading and advising on Leeds’ response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Hannah Cox (head of football administration)
Cox’s time at Elland Road precedes even the Radrizzani era.
She came from Bradford City as head of football administration in 2016 and has
held that job ever since — another existing employee who 49ers Enterprises
decided to stick with.
While it is Kinnear’s job to formally sign off deals and
transfers in and out, Cox does much of the work in putting contracts together
and handling the administrative aspects of signings or player sales, some of
which — like Raphinha to Barcelona last summer or the contract negotiations
Leeds would conduct with Bielsa — can be highly complicated and protracted.
Other people at Leeds identify targets, conduct negotiations
for new players or hold talks about improved deals but it is Cox who oversees
the paperwork and has the task of registering everything properly. Often,
senior football administration roles also cover compliance with governing
bodies’ rules and regulations, disciplinary matters and match-day
documentation. All told, the remit is fairly vast and calls for major
competence.