Leeds United Managing Director Angus Kinnear has shared that two managers told the club they believed they could be released before the appointment of Javi Gracia.
The Managing Director admitted that he felt fans’ frustrations over the length of the Leeds United search for a new manager but confessed initial setbacks cost the club valuable time.
Kinnear didn’t make clear who the two managers were that allegedly told the club they could be released but a betting man would put good money on one of them being Andoni Iraola.
“The club had identified two candidates who were currently employed but were deemed an excellent fit. Both candidates expressed their commitment to join Leeds United and believed they could be released by their respective clubs,” said Kinnear as quoted by leedsunited.com. (24 February)
“With this information, the club was confident that one of them would be available. Unfortunately, this did not transpire which delayed the process.
“The average appointment in these situations takes nine days, but unfortunately with three games in one week, and the initial setback, our appointment took 14 days.
“Throughout that time the board were busy meeting candidates to ensure they found who they thought was the best fit. In the interim, there was confidence that Michael Skubala was able to deputise for the short term. He impressed everyone with how he handled the situation and the board felt he was unlucky not to have secured more points from two excellent performances against Manchester United.”
Is that an apology?
Kinnear has a weird way of dancing around the fact that the Leeds board massively screwed up this one and there is little to suggest from this statement that they are owning up to their mistakes.
The board will only be well and truly saved if Gracia comes in and performs miracles at Elland Road in the coming months, something which is far from a certainty.
Also, if the said candidates were so keen to join Leeds United then why didn’t they? This may allude to some form of deal happening at the end of the season.
It’s likely whoever they were didn’t want to upset their current club and chances are once this campaign is chalked off they may be willing to come to West Yorkshire.
Kinnear revealed in his statement that the 49ers were also involved in the new manager search, something fans probably didn’t want to hear.
Are Leeds United’s new potential owners just as inept as the ones currently at the helm? Or has Kinnear thrown them under the bus slightly to save some face?
Who knows, but one thing is for sure, this has been one messy way to go about things at Elland Road.
