Jesse Marsch makes new claim on what Leeds United was actually like behind-the-scenes — Leeds United News 21/5/24
Danny Bloomer
Jesse Marsch landed his first job since leaving Leeds United
in February 2023 amid his appointment as Canada’s new head coach.
Marsch is set to lead Canada at the upcoming Copa America
where he could come up against a number of his former USMNT players at Leeds in
Tyler Adams, Brenden Aaronson and Weston McKennie.
He could also face his predecessor at Leeds Marcelo Bielsa,
who is now in charge of Uruguay. However, given how the draw has played out,
that looks unlikely.
Following his long overdue firing at Elland Road, Marsch was
linked with a number of different jobs in the 15 months he spent out of the
game.
English sides Leicester City and Southampton were reportedly
keen shortly after his Leeds exit, while Celtic and AS Monaco were also
mentioned. At one stage, he looked destined for the USMNT job until Gregg
Berhalter’s return.
Marsch has done a lot of talking about Leeds and the
circumstances surrounding his exit since he was sacked, branding Andrea
Radrizzani’s decision to fire him as ‘foolish’.
With relegation following soon after his exit, Marsch also
believes that Radrizzani paid the price for not sticking with him. In
hindsight, the decision not to sack him earlier, was the problem.
Marsch won just two of his final 17 league matches in charge
of Leeds, and though even in Canada’s official press release they tried to make
it sound as though he was doing a good job, there was only one way the club was
heading.
And now speaking on CBS Sports Golazo, Marsch has aimed a
fresh dig at Radrizzani and those behind-the-scenes by suggesting the club was
a complete ‘mess’ before and after he was there.
He said: “It’s almost like the higher that I went the more
disappointed I was, in the way that things operated. People think Leeds is such
a big club but if you peel the veil away, we were a club that was in disarray
when I got there.
“It was very financially a mess and it made then managing
everything very difficult. But I decided to take that on and I tried to do the
best I could with it. It was a mess before I got there and shortly after I left
it was a mess again.”
There is certainly an element of truth in what Marsch is
saying, as it has now become clear Radrizzani simply didn’t have the adequate
finances to run a Premier League club.
Leeds have £190 million in unpaid transfer instalments still
owed out to other clubs, and the reason for that is because Radrizzani simply
couldn’t afford to pay up. Financial expert Kieran Maguire says the Italian
effectively used the ‘Leeds United credit card’ on transfers, as per talkSPORT.
However, Marsch is hardly someone who can shift blame,
either. The majority of that aforementioned figure will come from the signings
he wanted to make, barely any of which worked out.
Marsch signed 10 first team players across two transfer
windows at Leeds and only two of them in Georginio Rutter and Willy Gnonto have
been here this season.
The rest are either now out on loan and unwanted at Leeds,
or already having been sold. He is as much to blame.