Leeds United’s best and worst managers of the last 30 years - ranked by win percentage - YEP 5/10/21
Marcelo Bielsa will prove a hard act to follow when the time comes for the Argentine to leave Leeds United.
By Flora Snelson
Bielsa has set a very high standard for Whites bosses to
come, both on and off the pitch, delivering Leeds’ long-awaited promotion to
the Premier League and earning the respect of the city and the global fanbase.
But Elland Road has not always been blessed with such talent
and dignity.
We’ve worked out the club’s best and worst managers over the
last 30 years, ranking them in order of win percentage.
Included are every manager who’s taken charge of the Whites
on a matchday since 1991, caretakers and all.
1 - Marcelo Bielsa - 51.7%
77 wins in 149 games officially makes Marcelo Bielsa the
best Leeds United manager of the past thirty years. To the majority of Whites
fans, Bielsa was something of a non-entity when he arrived at the club in the
summer of 2018. He soon found his way into the hearts of the Elland Road
faithful for his humble ways and entertaining playing style. For achieving the
long-awaited goal of Premier League promotion, Bielsa will never be forgotten.
2 - Gary McAllister - 50%
The ex-Whites captain was made boss of his former club in January of 2008 when Dennis Wise’s departure caught the board unawares. Leeds did well under McAllister and narrowly missed out on promotion to the Championship when they lost the play-off final to Doncaster Rovers. A lacklustre start to the 2008/2009 season, featuring a tragic loss to non-league side Histon, meant McAllister was sacked at Christmas.
3 - David O'Leary - 49.8%
After serving two years as assistant manager to George
Graham, O’Leary was promoted to head coach on Graham’s departure. O’Leary
managed Leeds to third place in his first season at the helm, and the Whites
subsequently reached the semi-finals of the Champions League the following
year. Though it helped him achieve back to back top five finishes, O’Leary
spent over £100 million on new players during his tenure which eventually
caught up with the club. The Irish manager’s sacking signalled the beginning of
the end of a golden period for Leeds United.
4 - Simon Grayson - 49.7%
Grayson ‘s arrival seemed to herald the return to glorious
form of bygone years, as 11 consecutive home wins matched a run achieved by Don
Revie forty years previously. It wasn’t until the following season, though,
that Grayson was able to make a name for himself as a Leeds legend. Fans will
remember January 3rd 2010 as the day Grayson guided League One Leeds to FA Cup
victory against rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford. He successfully
restored Leeds’ Championship status in May 2010 and the Whites progressed well
in tier two under Grayson before he was sacked in 2012.
5 - Garry Monk - 47.2%
Monk had a dream start to life at Elland Road, picking up a
nomination for Championship Manager of the Month in October 2016 and going
toe-to-toe with Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool in the League Cup. The Whites held
play-off spot for the majority of the 2016/2017 before capitulating in the
final eight games, missing out on a shot at promotion by five points. Monk
resigned in May 2017, two days after it was announced that Andrea Radrizzani
had taken over the club.
6 - Thomas Christiansen - 45.5%
Leeds United were Christiansen’s first taste of English
football following managerial appointments in Cyprus and the United Arab
Emirates. Arriving in the summer of 2017, the Whites went undefeated for seven
games under the Spaniard at the start of the 2017/2018 season but Christiansen
was given the sack in February 2018 after six games without a win.
7 - Dennis Wise - 44.1%
Leeds wrestled Wise out of the clutches of League Two
Swindon Town, who couldn’t believe their luck when, with limited managerial
experience, Wise led them to one of their best league starts in 2006. Charged
with shoring up an unsteady ship, Wise arrived at Elland Road with high hopes
of restoring the Whites’ Premiership status. It was to be a losing battle
though, as Leeds’ 10-point penalty for administration confirmed the Whites’
first ever season in League One. Under Wise Leeds made a strong start to League
One life, even reaching first place over the Christmas period, but the head
coach departed shortly after to be director of football at Premiership side
Newcastle.
8 - Howard Wilkinson - 43.3%
Sergeant Wilko worked wonders at Elland Road, leading the
Whites to tier two promotion in 1990 before they claimed the league
championship in 1992. The trophy lift was to be the pinnacle of his Leeds
career, though, as his progress faltered thereafter. He was sacked at the
beginning of the 1996/1997 season after a poor start. Wilkinson remains the
last English manager to manage a team to a title in the top flight.
9 - Kevin Blackwell - 38.3%
Following stints playing second fiddle to Peter Reid and
Eddie Gray, Blackwell was promoted to first team coach in June 2004 with the
unenviable task of rebuilding a team whose heart had been gutted out in the
name of raising the funds needed to recover from crippling debt. With an eye
for bargain talent and the patter to persuade players of Leeds’ appeal,
Blackwell took the Whites to the play-off final in 2006. But it was Watford who
claimed the coveted Premiership spot for the 2006/2007 season, and a slow start
to Leeds’ next Championship campaign meant Blackwell got the sack.
10 - Terry Venables - 38.1%
In the summer of 2002, Venables joined a club beset with financial difficulties. In the same window, Leeds were forced to sell their star and captain Rio Ferdinand to the Whites’ bitter rivals Manchester United in a regrettable transfer of the type that would characterise Venables’ managerial stint. Venables did not follow through on his ultimatum that suggested he would leave if Jonathan Woodgate were offloaded in a raid for cash, but board relations were fraught and Venables was shown the door two months later in March 2003.
11 - Neil Redfearn - 38.1%
Who you gonna call? Neil Redfearn! Redfearn has accrued a
decent win rate during his tenure as Elland Road's resident supply teacher,
winning 16 games across four stints as Leeds manager. The Reserves coach was
handed the top job on a permanent basis November 2014. Redfearn changed Leeds’
formation and brought about an upturn in form before falling out with owner
Massimo Cellino. He briefly returned to his role in the academy before departing
the club altogether in July 2015.
12 - Brian McDermott - 37%
After a slow start, McDermott’s tenure looked promising
after 7 wins in eleven took Leeds up to fifth place. The Whites’ flirtation
with the play-offs was not sustained, however, and a dark winter period gave
way to unmitigated free fall as the season came to a close, with McDermott’s
men earning 3 points in nine games across March and April. Meanwhile, change
was afoot in the boardroom and McDermott did not survive the arrival of Massimo
Cellino, who took over the club in early 2014.
13 - Steve Evans - 36.8%
Brought in to replace Uwe Rosler, Evans was successful in
salvaging the Whites’ 2015-16 season but there were no fireworks. The Scot
turned Leeds from a relegation-threatened side into a team that finished
mid-table for the fifth season running. It wasn’t enough to impress Massimo
Cellino, who teased Evans with contract renewal before binning him off for
Garry Monk.
14 - Neil Warnock - 36.5%
Entertainment was never in short supply when Neil Warnock
was in town, though his waspish ways are certainly more palatable with the
distance of time. His brash manner and questionable recruitment choices,
swapping the club-legend-to-be Steve Morison in for actual club legend Luciano
Becchio, did not warm fans to Warnock and, crucially, failed to boost Leeds
from mid-table mediocrity. After a winless run of six games Warnock was sacked
in April 2013.
15 - David Hockaday - 33.3%
One of the Whites’ most infamous appointments, David Hockaday was handed the post by Massimo Cellino in July 2014. With no experience of league football, the former Forest Green Rovers manager survived just six games at Elland Road, during which time four Leeds players were shown red cards, before Hockaday himself was sent packing.
16 - Peter Reid - 27.3%
Initially appointed as interim manager, Reid’s first forays
at Elland Road were extremely positive as he halted the Whites’ rapid decline
and saved them from the drop. With the permanent job in the bag, Reid began the
new season afresh, but with the club’s financial woes demanding superstars to
be traded in for donkeys, Reid’s project failed to get off the ground, and the
Liverpudlian was sacked after 22 games in charge.
17 - Paul Heckingbottom - 25%
Heckingbottom arrived at Elland Road on a wave of hype after
his stunning managerial debut at Barnsley, for which he earned the Yorkshire
Post’s coveted Sports Hero of 2016 award, featured an EFL trophy lift and a
play-off final victory which took the Reds back into the Championship.
Unfortunately, Heckingbottom couldn’t replicate his success with the Whites’
squad, and just four months into his tenure he departed Elland Road.
18 - Eddie Gray - 23.1%
Under enormous pressure to turn around the fortunes of his
beloved Whites, Eddie Gray was handed the head coach role on a temporary basis
with no prior experience of first team management, despite considerable playing
and backroom credentials. At the centre of a crisis, Gray was able to initially
steady the ship before Leeds went into a downward spiral at the start of 2004
which condemned them to relegation.
19 - John Carver - 20%
John Carver made a winning start to his stint as caretaker
manager following Kevin Blackwell’s limp start to the 2006/2007 season. It soon
proved to be beginner’s luck, though, as Carver lost the four games that
followed. The powers-that-be were so unimpressed that they brought in a
caretaker for the caretaker, refusing to allow Carver just one more game in
charge while they waited to secure Dennis Wise. Ouch.
20 - Uwe Rösler - 16.7%
The East German who once compared his ‘heavy metal’ attacking
football to the style mastered by Jurgen Klopp. His assessment didn’t quite
match up with the results he achieved during his time at Elland Road, sadly,
and Rösler was sacked after a 2-1 defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion, having
won two in twelve games.
21 - David Geddis - 0%
The final member of the 0% club. On his one day at the helm
in 2006 the Reserves coach oversaw the Whites’ round three league cup exit at
the hands of Southend United. Geddis wasn’t entirely to blame, though, since
the incoming gaffer Dennis Wise had instructed him on who to start having
agreed the terms of his appointment earlier that day.
22 - Gwyn Williams - 0%
Technical director Gwyn Williams could do little damage on the one day he took the reins between Dennis Wise’s departure and the appointment of Gary McAllister. The 1-0 home loss to Doncaster he took charge of was sooner forgotten than the circumstances under which he left five years later, when he was dismissed following the exchange of inappropriate emails to colleagues.
With no wins in six, Milanic is comfortably the worst Leeds
United manager of the last thirty years. A left-field choice brought in to
replace David Hockaday, Milanic had previously won fifteen pieces of silverware
at Slovenian club Maribor, where he was sent packing after just three winless
games in a row. Massimo Cellino was positively generous in 2014, then, when he
allowed the Slovenian six bites at the cherry before dismissal. Milanic now
manages a first division team in Cyprus.
