‘Shambles’ - What Graham Smyth said immediately after Leeds United relegation in Marcelo Bielsa point - YEP 28/5/23

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Leeds United will pour over their unsuccessful battle against relegation from the Premier League over the coming days.

By Mark Carruthers, Graham Smyth

Sam Allardyce’s side made their way into the final 90 minutes of a long and testing season knowing only a win against Tottenham Hotspur would give them any chance of extending their top flight stay into a third season. But there seemed little doubt over the eventual outcome from the moment Harry Kane fired the visitors in front with just two minutes on the clock at Elland Road.

Pedro Porro doubled Spurs advantage in the early stages of the second-half and although Jack Harrison briefly reduced the arrears for Leeds, Kane’s second of the day and a late goal from Lucas Moura condemned the Whites to a return to the second tier that many suspected had been coming throughout a lacklustre second half to the Premier League season.

But YEP writer Graham Smyth believes the roots of the Whites’ relegation into the Championship were not sown in recent weeks, but in the decision to part ways with the highly-popular Marcelo Bielsa in February 2022 and questioned what had been gained from allowing the departure of a man that led the club into the Premier League.

Speaking via his Twitter account, he said: “You have to look back now and ask what did Leeds United gain by sacking Marcelo Bielsa? Now weigh it up against what they lost. Today's performance, the team put out, the squad, the lack of comms from the ownership all week, the lack of clarity on the takeover. Wow. Shambles.

“Even if sacking Bielsa was the right call, the succession plan and recruitment has killed them dead this season. Then there's the length of time given to Marsch. The faffing when he was sacked. Chasing unobtainable targets. Madness.”

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