Paul Merson stunned by Leeds United manager hunt amid mooted £5.2million-a-year contract offers
Paul Merson cannot understand how Leeds United have failed to secure a new manager when he believes they are offering as much as £100,000-a-week to candidates.
Since sacking Jesse Marsch at the start of last week (6 February) the Whites have already run through their list of preferred coaches and drawn a blank with Carlos Corberan, Arne Slot, Marcelo Gallardo and Andoni Iraola.
The club have been forced to extend caretaker boss Michael Skubala’s time in charge past the double-header against Manchester United and into the foreseeable future, and for a club of their size and with the money he thinks they are offering Merson can’t believe there is still no successor to the American in place.
He told Sportskeeda: “I’m not sure how Leeds haven’t managed to find a manager yet. They’re one of the biggest clubs around, and they’re playing in the Premier League!
“They’ve been offering up to a hundred grand a week, and they still can’t find a manager.”
Mishandled
Leeds United are a big club, in a big league, and the money on offer is sure to be very good, but when there is little over three months of the season remaining and the club are stuck well into a relegation battle it is still a very difficult time to get a new man in.
In some ways the club should be praised for being willing to do everything to support Marsch previously, having backed him with signings and time to get his system working, but to no avail.
However, if they were going to wait until mere days after the close of the January transfer window to then sack him, without someone ready to come in and take over immediately, it begs the question of why they went about things this way.
It’s all very well sticking with a manager through the tough times but with the World Cup break, the winter window, and crucially more than half the season now passed, they have missed the primary opportunities to make a change.
That isn’t a problem in itself if you have a plan in place behind the scenes, having reached some sort of agreement with a candidate that you actually want.
But sacking Marsch in February and then starting near enough from scratch is a baffling way of doing things, and unless they are offering many more millions than the number Merson has suggested it will mean the calibre of option the board want are going to be unwilling to come in now.
There is no point, in the eyes of a lot of quality coaches, in taking over at a point when their ideas won’t have time to take hold and they could easily be relegated at the end of the season as a result, as Marcelo Bielsa himself told Everton when they tried to appoint him last month.
The club have made a mess of this transition and it is currently on Michael Skubala’s head to rescue them.
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