'Rubbish' - Ex-Leeds United man on relegation blame breakdown, warning and main sympathy on drop

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The blame for Leeds United's relegation is collective, writes DAVID PRUTTON.

They needed to do a certain thing to survive but they didn't. They got battered and were rubbish. That's why the fans were literally singing get off the pitch and get off home and you're not fit to wear the shirt at the last game of the season.

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I've been booed off pitches and there have been hand gestures as I have left a football pitch but I've never as a collective been part of a team that's been told to get off home. I thought that was astounding really so you've got to look at it across the board. Jesse Marsch as a leader of men, of this particular group of men, wasn't good enough but that's in this particular instance.

I've seen his teams before and I'll see his teams afterwards and they will be very good teams. The same with the players. I'll have seen them play at different clubs in different parts of the career and been very good.

HUGE MISS: Class act Raphinha who helped 'dig Leeds United out' under Jesse Marsch. Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images.HUGE MISS: Class act Raphinha who helped 'dig Leeds United out' under Jesse Marsch. Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images.
HUGE MISS: Class act Raphinha who helped 'dig Leeds United out' under Jesse Marsch. Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images.

But this current incarnation, this current chemistry setup has been absolutely nowhere near it and they have gone down with a whimper. As a head of an organisation, there has got to be someone that takes responsibility and that does fall with the man at the very, very top in Andrea Radrizzani.

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Then there has been Victor Orta's role as director of football and his ability to bring players in was hit and miss. The histrionics shown in the directors box from him were also ridiculous but you have to go even further back because it starts from somewhere.

Marcelo Bielsa was wonderful but his last month was ridiculous. They were getting absolutely battered and a decision had to be made. Plan A worked wonderfully well but ran out of steam but as for plan B, there wasn't one. Something needed to change and it probably shows that first portion of Jesse's reign more favourably. But he had a very good player in Raphinha and very good footballers to dig him and Leeds out of a hole.

But the essence of football is reacting to management changes, personal changes and decisions made by the board and if they make the right decisions and do their due diligence then they get the right person in to take over.

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It begins and ends with the top but it encompasses everybody underneath it from structural recruitment down to the management and ultimately the players. It's poor performances on the pitch that get you relegated. I've been involved in them and it's teams being rubbish that sends you down.

Whether the makeup of that team could be better, that's the finger you point at the recruitment and the people that bring the players. But fundamentally you get relegated or promoted by virtue of who is on the pitch wearing the shirt I think.

Every football club is so unique. You can't just say 'do a Brighton' or do it the way they have done it. Brighton have got a unique model , as have a team like Brentford. Leeds have done it a different way and to varying degrees of results.

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But there has been a chopping and changing of managers ending now with the departure of Sam Allardyce after just four games. He was at the club for just 25 days which is just ridiculous. But my first thought upon the club's relegation was for the fans who have been there through everything and seen it all.

There was possibly a deeper love shown by the fans for the players that were there under Marcelo because the ones that have been brought in latterly will have been deemed not good enough to take Leeds on to the next level.

Leeds did unbelievably well to get to where they got to but then they just fell short in the most brutal league on the planet. Hopefully the fans that vented their anger can still find that place in their heart for the players that managed to see them up in a way that was wonderful and gloriously entertaining and energetic.

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But that will depend on how long this next stay in the Championship ends up being. The fans are the ones who bear the brunt of the emotional investment and the more defeatist and pessimistic fans will think 'here we go again' because you just have to look at what happened in the Championship this season.

West Brom were nowhere near it and Watford were absolutely nowhere near it - teams that you would deem big teams down there. Burnley have been great, obviously, as have Sheffield United and then there is the story with Luton which has been phenomenal. But Sunderland didn't go up and Middlesbrough are another one.There's very good teams down there that are waiting for Leeds. After the post mortem they really have got to get their heads around it because once again, back in the Championship, every team will be absolutely gunning for them.