Leeds United need a head coach fast – it’s make-your-mind-up time for incoming owners - The Athletic 20/6/23
By Phil Hay
Common sense said 49ers Enterprises would not want to rush
its choice of head coach. This is its first big decision as owner-to-be of
Leeds United, the first example of its judgment and competence. This is a
decision that falls to the U.S. group alone, no longer subject to the views of
differing factions in the boardroom.
With just over a week of June to go, the process of choosing
is in its final throes, with a last round of London-based interviews taking
place.
Expediting those meetings was not helped by a fortnight of
the close season being lost to persuading Andrea Radrizzani to sell Leeds, but
by the time a head coach is appointed, the club will have taken as long to
place their bets as they could have feasibly allotted. Landing Marcelo Bielsa
in 2018 seemed to take forever, but even that was done by June 15.
Burnley unveiled Vincent Kompany at a similar time last
season, their first step towards the Championship title, and both he and Bielsa
are examples of how a short turnaround need not be an obstacle to a highly
productive season.
Coaches worth their salt plan in advance to avoid taking a
new job cold and it is doubtful any of those being spoken to by Leeds have not
thought at length about how they would attack the summer if an offer is made to
them. But even so, this is last-minute stuff and it is hard not to think that
the entire summer will follow suit, a close season in which Leeds will have
nothing like the luxury of time.
That point was underlined last week by the move to enlist
Nick Hammond, the former Reading director of football, to help manage this transfer
window. Hammond’s contract is a short one, running for three months, and no one
is suggesting that when 49ers Enterprises — a group which, for those with NFL
connections, is immersed in the world of data, research and development
departments — gets down to deciding how Leeds will attack recruitment in future
windows, Hammond will figure in the discussion about who will run the show. For
now, though, the club simply have to ignite a rapid flow of players in and out,
something Hammond will try to do. A new and full-time sporting director is one
for another day.
Leeds, one by one, are going past markers in the road. June
14 was the start of the domestic transfer window. Thursday sees the release of
their Championship fixture list. The international window opens on July 1,
allowing clubs in England to complete signings from abroad, and the first
tranche of Leeds players returning for pre-season will be back on July 2, a
week on Sunday. A head coach has to be recruited by then and, after agreeing
the terms of a buy-out of Radrizzani on June 10, the projection was that full
EFL approval for 49ers Enterprises’ takeover would be secured before the end of
this month.
While the club’s chief executive, Angus Kinnear, approached
prospective head coach candidates in the background as Radrizzani and 49ers
Enterprises attempted to strike their deal, the ongoing set of face-to-face
interviews this week is far more weighty.
Kinnear remains prominently involved, but Paraag Marathe,
the president of 49ers Enterprises who will shortly become chairman of Leeds,
is in England for the discussions, with the intention of knowing who they will
appoint by the end of this week. Hammond and others are assisting with the
work, including background checks, but Marathe and Kinnear — set to retain his
role as CEO once 49ers Enterprises officially takes control — will have the
major influence on a final call.
Two of those on the interview list are Scott Parker and
Daniel Farke, with both having twice coached clubs to promotion from the
Championship. Farke’s track record is that of winning the Championship title on
two different occasions with Norwich City. Both are also free agents; Parker
after leaving Bournemouth last season and then embarking on an ill-fated spell
in charge of Club Bruges in Belgium, and Farke after his recent dismissal from
Borussia Monchengladbach in Germany. Patrick Vieira — out of work since his
sacking by Crystal Palace but someone who was interested in the job at Leeds
following Jesse Marsch’s dismissal in February — is another who is on the
radar.
Leeds also discussed Carlos Corberan initially, a coach they
know well from his time on Bielsa’s staff and who they rated on account of his
work at Huddersfield Town and West Bromwich Albion. Corberan is different to
Parker and Farke, though, in that he is under contract at West Brom on a deal
signed less than six months ago. The contract includes a release clause, set at
around £2.5million ($3.2m), but to this point, Leeds have not approached West
Brom about activating that clause or asked the club for permission to formally
interview Corberan. It suggests that, for now, the focus is elsewhere.
From the start, Leeds have followed the train of thought
that a known quantity would not be a bad thing. Whether their choice excited
the fanbase or not, they deduced that it might be advantageous to go with
someone who had coached in England before or had shown they could make a
success of a marathon in the Championship. Though an extension of Sam
Allardyce’s brief stay was never seriously mooted, any temptation to hand him a
longer deal was dampened by the question of whether, at 68 and having rarely
managed over the past five years, a slog of 46 league games would demand too
much of him. But it was always possible that once 49ers Enterprises entered the
red zone of having to actually reach a decision, it would be tempted by
something more eye-catching.
However the interviews fall, Leeds have reached
make-your-mind-up time in a summer where there is so little to spare. The
fixture list is almost upon them and pre-season is not far behind. Here is one
reality of football club ownership: the responsibility of it comes at you fast.
