Phil Hay shares news from FA on Leeds United push for Javi Gracia work permit
A final meeting with the Home Office and the FA on Friday morning (24 February) took place for Leeds United to get Javi Gracia his work permit agreed, according to Phil Hay.
The Spaniard was appointed as the successor to Jesse Marsch on Tuesday (21 February) but wasn’t allowed to lead training at Thorpe Arch due to a work permit issue.
The Athletic’s Hay shared (24 February) that the Whites were worried about the length of time it would take for Gracia to have his paperwork completed, with the crunch clash against relegation rivals Southampton (Saturday 25 February) fast approaching.
He wrote: “In Gracia’s case, the worry was logistics and the speed at which the completed paperwork was likely to arrive.
“It took until this morning for the process to gain the full satisfaction of the Football Association and the Home Office, a final visa meeting allowing Gracia to take training and fulfil media duties.”
At last
Leeds made getting a new manager in place a far more complicated process than it should have been. The board simply had no strategic awareness to begin with, and even the appointment of Gracia had its complications.
Supporters would have been biting their nails at the thought of yet another game with a caretaker team in charge, but luckily the Home Office and the FA calmed such nerves with a last-gasp approval on Friday morning.
The Whites finally have a new manager at the helm who can hopefully navigate them away from the relegation zone, and first matches don’t come much bigger than Southampton at home.
With the Saints buoyed by the appointment of Ruben Selles as their top dog, the so-called “manager bounce” could go either way in this relegation showdown. Three points are dearly needed from Leeds’ point of view, and hopefully, Gracia has enough time to inspire his players to victory at the weekend.
In other Leeds United news, Phil Hay has detailed a request the club has made to the FA over the work permit issue.
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