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Danny Mills breaks down Leeds United manager hunt live on talkSPORT and suggests ego damage a major factor
Danny Mills believes Leeds United have struggled in their hunt for Jesse Marsch’s successor due to the damage a relegation can have on a manager’s CV, claiming their ego’s always come first.
The Whites have failed time and again to find a new manager since sacking Marsch, with the likes of Carlos Corberan, Andoni Iraola, Arne Slot and Alfred Schreuder failing to assume control for varying reasons.
Talking live on talkSPORT on Friday (17 February), Mills suggested that many managers would be put off by Leeds’ precarious league position before coming back into the mix in the summer if the club survived relegation.
He said: “People keep turning it down left, right, and centre. I think it’s a really difficult job because you’re going in there, and the expectations are you’ve got to keep them up, simple as that.
“There’s plenty of games to go, but it’s a squad built by Jesse Marsch with Jesse Marsch-style players. A good manager going in there with big credentials doesn’t want relegation on his CV.
“And although they’re not in the relegation zone at the moment, when you look at the way the team are playing and what’s been happening, there’s a distinct possibility you could be sucked into that.
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“You know what most managers are like. Ego comes first. That takes over more than anything else and they don’t want a relegation on their CV. Unless there going to be given a two-and-a-half-year deal, they’ll be thinking no, I’ll wait till summer, see what happens and then go in.”
Fair assessment
Not many managers would admit that the threat of relegation was the reason for not taking a job, but realistically Mills is bang on the money with his assessment here.
The likes of Carlos Corberan at West Brom and Marcelo Gallardo will both think to themselves. Why would I pigeonhole myself to a club that could potentially be playing Championship football if things go desperately wrong in the coming months?
It would clearly make sense for these types of managers to wait and see if Leeds survive – which they have more than enough quality to put into action – before pledging their colours to the club.
Southampton have found the same issue out for themselves since sacking Nathan Jones last week, and both clubs will most likely rely on interim managers to lead them away from safety over the coming months instead.
This is quite simply poor planning by Victor Orta. Why sack Marsch at such a late stage of the season when there’s no viable replacement waiting in the wings?
In other Leeds United news, click here to see breaking, around-the-clock updates on Leeds’ search for a new manager in our interactive live blog.
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