The #LUFC Breakfast Debate (Friday 8th September) Answers were long overdue
Answers were long overdue
Angus Kinnear has finally opened up, giving a frank, and open assessment of the trials of tribulations from the last few seasons at Elland Road.
The Leeds Managing Director sat down with Leeds fanzine site 'The Square Ball' on Wednesday, and finally give explanations behind the Leeds board's decision making. The club has gone from a well oiled machine, on the cusp of European football to a Championship outfit in the space of just over two years, and the fans have been demanding answers.
Although obviously a well rehearsed PR stunt, Kinnear came across well. He gave full explanations to questions fans have been asking for a long time and took responsibility for their mistakes. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Will the club learn by their mistakes? It just seems that the goings-on around Elland Road continually play out like a soap opera. The fans want stability, and hopefully with 49ers Enterprises at the helm, things will now settle down.
Could Everton escape FFP points deductions
Football’s independent regulator will now not recommend sporting sanctions against clubs that blatantly flout Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations.
A Government white paper published in February, called for ‘genuine consequences’ for clubs who break FFP rules, however plans to impose ‘sporting sanctions’ are now set to be vetoed, with Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer MP quoted as saying the government do not wish to ‘place unnecessary burdens on the game’.
Clubs will still be recieve hefty fines for FFP breaches, but will not suffer points deductions and penalties which obstructs their sporting activity. A fine will have absolutely no affect on the likes of Manchester City or Chelsea. Where does this leave Everton, who have already been charged with FFP misdemeanors?
Kinnear regrets not getting rid of Marsch sooner
When deciding on a successor to Marcelo Bielsa, Jesse Marsch (on paper at least) ticked many boxes. Trying to replicate the great man was always going to be nigh on impossible, but the Leeds board had faith in the young American
Bielsa was not without his faults. Many, including Marsch openly criticised him for over training the players and risking burnout. He refused to deviate from man to man marking, or his rigid 4/2/3/1 formation, even when his head was on the chopping block, opting instead to die on his sword.
No sooner were Jessie Marsch's feet under the table, than he launched a vicious attack on his predecessors training regime, a decision he would later regret. The squad went from being over trained (theoretically), to under-trained in a short space of time, and their fitness levels suffered as a result.
Victor Orta expected Marsch to continue Bielsa's great work, but make tweaks along the way. Unfortunately things didn't work , and just shy of his one year anniversary, he received his P45. Marsch may well have bitten the bullet prior to the World Cup (December 22), but as Kinnear explains, wins against Bournemouth and Liverpool gave him a stay of execution, a decision the Leeds board ultimately regret.
“There were certain things Victor saw from a technical perspective when he was looking at coaches that showed there were synergies (between Marsch and Bielsa). Marcelo is the definition of unique. Trying to find anybody able to deliver in the same way as he did was going to be difficult. “But from Jesse’s (team’s) pressing stats, the running stats, we thought he was going to be able to leverage the fact that the team was really fit. We thought that was an important part of his game. The fitness did fall away and we didn’t expect that."
“There were some challenges with (Biesla’s) man-to-man approach. We thought Jesse was going to bring a more pragmatic style of play, which was perhaps better adapted to the Premier League. Clearly, it didn’t work. “Jesse worked very, very hard. He was very committed. He was always, as he said, ‘all in’. Jesse would hold his hands up and say it didn’t work."
"He had a very good track record as a coach but you have to accept it failed, and it also failed from a recruitment perspective. “In the run-up to Christmas, we were in a difficult position. The trajectory wasn’t moving in the right direction. We had a significant dip and it was probably the Bournemouth and Liverpool games (victories at a time when Marsch was under major pressure) when we thought we were moving in the right direction. Perhaps if we hadn’t had those two results, we might have made the decision earlier."
“Based on where we ended up, it was the wrong decision because we got relegated. That’s what everybody was trying to avoid. It was debated a lot at the time. If we had the decision again, knowing what we know now, we’d have absolutely made the change then."
"Without going into the individuals involved, there wasn’t alignment on the board at that stage. “You have to look at what type of change you can make, what type of manager can you get in, what are the chances of that manager making it better. You have to take all those things into account. But a change would have been better at that point.”