Leeds United manager and transfers lined up but 49ers insist key development ‘must come first’
The 49ers are currently “lining up” a new Leeds United manager and activity is going on behind the scenes on transfers but the new owners say EFL ratification “must come first”, Graham Smyth reports.
Despite announcing their agreement to buy out Andrea Radrizzani back on 9 June, the league’s checks into the key members of the investment group have been ongoing since and the move has not yet been made official.
The interview process to appoint a new manager has also been carried out, with Daniel Farke, Patrick Vieira and Scott Parker all named as having made it that far by Phil Hay in The Athletic (23 June).
And amid numerous potential departures from the playing squad there are reportedly also “ambitious” incoming transfer plans [Daily Mail, 26 June].
Yet, according to Smyth the Yorkshire Evening Post on Tuesday morning (27 June) the heavily-anticipated developments in the dug-out and in the market have to wait.
He writes: “49ers Enterprises are in the midst of lining up a head coach and working in the background on their initial recruitment plans but say EFL ratification of their takeover must come first.”
The new Leeds United owners are now hoping that announcements can be made by next weekend (2 July) at the “very latest”.
Process
It is clearly tricky for the 49ers to make multimillion pound decisions if they don’t actually know if they are going to be confirmed as 100% owners.
Quite what turmoil the club would be thrown into should the EFL unexpectedly come up with an issue doesn’t bear thinking about for Whites fans after the chaos that they have endured to even reach this point.
But since Paraag Marathe has played a key role in proceedings, alongside CEO Angus Kinnear, and both were already in central roles, with the 49ers 44% minority owners since 2021 it is not as if they aren’t heavily tied to the club either way.
All things being equal it would be perfectly sensible to have everything go through in the right order, but Phil Hay suggested upon the sale agreement being reached that the EFL’s approval could be “weeks away” [The Athletic, 9 June].
Either the 49ers have had some sort of indication that the process is nearing a conclusion or they are being very hopeful that “weeks” actually constitutes less than three.
With players starting to return to Thorp Arch in five days time the prospect is currently live that they arrive to find no manager in place, which after the season they’ve just had isn’t that much of a novelty, but with futures up in the air is not conducive to making clear decisions on who might stay and go.
If the new owners are this clear on the order of proceedings then perhaps we are almost set for the breakthrough that will see big moves quickly follow, but for now the wait goes on.
In other Leeds United news, the new manager decisions was supposed to have already been made on Friday.