Angus Kinnear defends the delay it took to appoint a new permanent head coach - Yorkshire Post 25/2/23
LEEDS UNITED chief executive officer Angus Kinnear has defended that amount of time it took the club to appoint Javi Gracia - and also outlined the reasons why the Premier League strugglers opted for the Spaniard to took over as full-time head coach.
By Leon Wobschall
Gracia takes charge of the second-from-bottom Whites for the
first time in a huge relegation six-pointer with the only side below them in
the table, Southampton, at Elland Road on Saturday afternoon.
Leeds had previously targeted moves for Rayo Vallecano's
Andoni Iraola and Feyenoord's Arne Slot after sacking Jesse Marsch earlier this
month, but endured frustration and matters came to a head following last
weekend's poor loss at relegation rivals Everton, intensifying the pressure to
bring in a new permanent head coach after three games under the interim command
of Michael Skubala.
On Garcia, Kinnear, writing in his programme notes, said:
"He impressed everybody in all of our meetings, not only because he had a
detailed plan of the tactical adjustments he believes the team needs to make to
quickly reverse our fortunes, but because he has a real belief in the
capability of the squad and a passion to be at Leeds United.
"This commitment was not shared by everyone else. There
was a definite mismatch between the profile of candidates that some sections of
the fanbase and the media perceived would be willing to join Leeds and the
reality.
"We fully understand the frustration that supporters
felt during the process, but the reality is these appointments normally take
one to two weeks, so being at the longer end of the range is not unreasonable.
"The delay was primarily due to two of the candidates
who we knew wanted the role and believed they could be released, misjudged the
strength of resolve that their current clubs had to retain them.
"Javi was on our radar and did not have any contractual
complexity that prevented him from committing quickly.
"In the interim, we had confidence in Michael Skubala
had all the attributes to lead the team and we are grateful that he stepped
into the breach so bravely.
