Leeds United await EFL green light before manager confirmation as 49ers interview process concludes - YEP 23/6/23
Leeds United's incoming owners 49ers Enterprises continue to get their ducks in a row behind the scenes while they await EFL ratification of their takeover.
By Graham Smyth
Club sources say a huge amount of work has gone on since
majority owner Andrea Radrizzani reached an agreement with the investment
group.
In that 16-day window takeover legalities have been worked
on, new board members have been required to comply with the EFL's Owners' and
Directors' test, pre-season plans including friendlies have been lined up and
49ers Enterprises president Paraag Marathe has headed up a managerial search.
Marathe has framed the interview process in a similar way to
his recruitment of San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch and head
coach Kyle Shanahan, who since 2017 have led the NFL franchise to a hat-trick
of play-off runs, two divisional titles and an appearance at the Super Bowl.
The initial task was to run dozens of prospective candidates
through the filter of demonstrated success - proof that the managers can do
what it is they say they will do to bring success to Leeds United. The YEP
understands data metrics relating to coaches who successfully led teams out of
the Championship and into the Premier League over the past 20 years, and their
traits as leaders, have been applied to try and find matches with candidates.
When Marathe appointed Lynch and Shanahan he was looking for
leaders who could change and build culture, convince players to buy in to what
they wanted to do and could boast experience of success in their work. A
'succeed or die trying' mentality has been highlighted as a key attribute.
Speaking in 2020 about the process to find and hire
Shanahan, Marathe said: "We looked at certain things, identified certain
traits and went through a process that were good indicators of success for a
head coach – things like leadership, vision, personality.
"Then we interviewed and measured candidates [based] on
those traits."
To take the Leeds hunt forward, dossiers were created on
more than 20 individuals and then 10 or so were interviewed initially on Zoom
last week. This week has been taken up, almost in full, by a face-to-face
interview schedule involving the final shortlist.
The process is coming to an end and Leeds believe they are
closing in on an appointment but, as it stands, Marathe is still simply the
vice chairman at Elland Road.
There is a feeling, among supporters, that it's all taking
too long and the release of next season’s fixtures only served to heighten that
concern but the club view is that a meticulous process does not necessarily
have to be a drawn out one. 49ers Enterprises do not believe that a body of
work which began before relegation was confirmed has come at the sacrifice of
time.
A change of ownership is close and that could come within
days, which would in turn trigger the appointment of a new head coach. The
feeling is that one will swiftly follow the other, but EFL approval and full
ratification of the takeover must come first.
Players return for pre-season training on July 2 - with
those involved in international competition this summer delaying their Thorp
Arch comeback until July 10. By day one of pre-season, though, Leeds want to
have a new name on the door to the chairman's office at Elland Road and a new
name on the door to the head coach's office at Thorp Arch.