Leeds have tried and failed at their new European approach
Leeds United have tried a new approach led by their Italian chairman Massimo Cellino that mimics the bigger European clubs in terms of transfer policy and managerial responsibility.
If you look at the likes of Real Madrid who employ this style it seems to work wonders, the board choose who to buy and the manager picks his team and tactics. Everyone knows their roles and where they stand, like a kid in a sweet shop the manager has a spoil of all the best talent available to pick and everyone is happy with a system that clearly outlines everyone’s job.
Real Madrid are one thing, though, and Leeds United are entirely another. When David Hockaday got offered the job it was too good a job to turn down for the manager, but he didn’t realise it was also an almost impossible job to do given the current set up at the club with Massimo Cellino and the Sporting Director Nicola Salerno making decisions on who would play, who they wanted to sign and pretty much every other aspect of running the club aside from coaching the players.
Hockaday had previously helped establish a football academy at Cirencester, as well as spending time as first team coach at Watford and as youth team coach at Southampton. He also spent four years as manager of Conference Premier side Forest Green Rovers, so coming into the Leeds hot seat was a big step in his career and a big ask in terms of how different the working environment is at the Championship club.
Most see the European style set up at Leeds as a strange way of running things, it is understood that the idea comes from Cellino’s experience owning Italian football club Cagliari where he is famous for sacking his managers. Despite this, the fans at Leeds saw him as some sort of saviour who would be able to propel the club back up to the Premiership big time and turn things around at the club which has struggled greatly since its relegation from the Premier League back in 2004, but the European style of running a club simply does not work at this sort of echelon of English football.
We have seen certain elements leaked into the English game with sporting director roles being created at the likes of Spurs and Newcastle with mixed results, mainly managers not being happy to relinquish control of the job description and clash of personality causing issues with transfers.
Leeds to me are a massive club still and what they need is a bit of financial stability, some decent investment in quality English players and a decent manager to be given free reign to put his own stamp on the club and the squad so that he can build a base from which they can mount a serious promotion challenge and get back to the big time. In my opinion they had that with Brian McDermott and if you have a look at the amount of unknown players that have come in through the door this summer, the team looks a shambles and doomed to be in a relegation scrap.
The current business model simply does not work and they have tarnished the reputation of a very promising manager and are dragging the club further into trouble and possible relegation from the Championship, which is very heartbreaking to see and harsh on the United faithful who must have needed patience of a saint to follow their beloved team in the past decade. I hope that the Italian realises the job at hand and although he is passionate about his club he is doing things in the wrong manner.
Leave the European style to the big boys who know how to do it and leave the English football club as it should be before it is too late and they sink further into trouble.
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