49ers want to make Leeds United announcement badly in takeover and manager news
49ers Enterprises are desperate to make an announcement on their preferred candidate to manage Leeds United, despite Andrea Radrizzani still being the majority shareholder, according to journalist Graham Smyth.
The Italian set about a deal to buy the financially stricken club Sampdoria at the same time that his tenure as chairman of the Whites was ending, before a 100% sale to the 49ers was eventually agreed on 9 June.
49ers have now firmly placed their attention on filling the vacant managerial hot seat, but Radrizzani, who should complete his Sampdoria takeover in September, still remains Leeds United owner which may well be slowing down any opportunity to announce an appointment and still needs EFL approval, as reported by Phil Hay [Square ball podcast, 23 June].
And according to Smyth, speaking to the Leeds United News podcast [29 June], the American consortium wants to badly make an announcement over the managerial appointment, despite the Radrizzani snag.
He said: “The legal position is that Radrizzani still owns Leeds United, he’s the majority owner, majority shareholder, so any appointment or major decisions would have to go through him. I’m guessing he’d have to give the green light.
“I can understand how incoming owners would see it as neither sensible and preferable to announce their takeover before announcing bits of news that they themselves have worked and put the process in place for and brought fruition.
“It’s just frustrating for everyone, I mean, the 49ers aren’t sitting there happily kicking their heels. They want this announced as badly as anyone so they can get on with announcing other things.”
Intentions clear
There’s certainly a good chance that because the takeover hasn’t gone through the official channels yet at the EFL, progress wasn’t being made on the managerial front which may well have come as a source of frustration to the Leeds United faithful, with pre-season set to begin in two weeks.
With Radrizzani still majority shareholder, the 49ers are now certainly making their intentions and position as full prospective owners clear with news emerging that former Norwich City boss Daniel Farke should be formally announced as the new boss.
Whether that’s been given the green light by the Italian businessman considering his position or not remains to be seen but it’s encouraging to see things are moving along nicely on that front because the Whites desperately need to start planning ahead of the new campaign, and not fall well behind their Championship rivals.
The Elland Road faithful have been desperate for a definitive deadline and update for a long while as the club’s takeover process and the managerial merry-go-round drags on. And the 49ers have been desperate to give it to them, now that looks to be a real occurrence now after the Farke developments.
Nonetheless, the sooner Radrizzani officially walks out the Leeds United doors, the sooner the American investors can look to usher the West Yorkshire outfit into a new era.
In other Leeds United news, the club are set to react to an impending Elland Road exodus with “ambitious” incoming transfer plans.