Leeds United chief says ‘ultimate pragmatist’ should have been hired over Javi Gracia

Leeds United seriously struggled in the Premier League last season, no one needs to spell that out. Even with their tough fighting attitude towards the business end of the campaign, it wasn’t enough to claw them out of the bottom three and as a result, they faced the dreaded drop.

Prior to their relegation to the Championship, the Whites had three permanent managers in the space of four months. After appointing Jesse Marsch back in February 2022, the former USA international lasted just shy of a year at the hilt of the club before he was given the sack.

Marsch left Leeds sitting 17th in the Premier League table and with a mountain to climb. The club brought in his replacement later in the month, Javi Gracia, which was a tricky tenure for all involved. After winning only three games from 11, times were getting desperate for Leeds and Gracia was given the boot after less than three months, and followed Victor Orta out the door, who left via mutual consent.

Sam Allardyce, the man typically known for hauling teams out of relegation scares, was brought in as the Whites’ last-ditch attempt at survival on a short-term deal. While he did not succeed in steering them out of the bottom three, the club’s chief executive believes it could have been a different story if Allardyce had been brought in rather than Gracia.

While appearing on an episode of the Square Ball Podcast, Angus Kinnear was asked whether Leeds should have appointed Allardyce right after Marsch left.

“I think Sam would have probably have been — because he is the ultimate pragmatist — I think he would probably have given us a better chance at that stage, but that’s in hindsight.”

Leeds United now have Daniel Farke in charge and the main mission at Elland Road is to secure promotion back into the Premier League as early as possible.