How the new Leeds United owner is bringing the focus back to football
July 24, 2017
By Calum Archibald
For so many years, Leeds United has been a name only associated with unmitigated disasters, in particular, the phrase ‘doing a Leeds’ became parlance for falling into the abyss, so to speak. Thankfully that has since been replaced by the ‘Pompey highway’ (a direct road from the Premier League to League 2, since followed by Blackpool). In recent years Leeds has become a shadow of the club they used to be, from losing ownership of the stadium and training facilities to the systematic breaking down of the academy into salable assets, it’s been nothing short of a footballing nightmare. In the midst of the chaos, a strange sense of calm has begun to break out – although in true Leeds United fashion the chaos has found a way to retain its grip on the club this summer.
From the moment Andrea Radrizzani entered the door at Elland Road, he commented that the club, while holding immense potential, was behind the times. That was true, through years of neglect, the stadium reflected a club that had fallen on hard times, with vital repairs and improvements seemingly being put off despite safety warnings, echoing the general health of the club since 2004. Just one month after completing his 100% takeover of Leeds United he has; brought Leeds United ladies back under the club umbrella, appointed several key backroom staff, a new Head Coach, established a scouting network, completed six signings, three new contracts and most importantly, completed the repurchase of Elland Road. There’s a lot of work to be done to bring Leeds United into the modern age of football, but some major milestones have been achieved already, signaling the intent to make good on what feels like has been a lifetime of false dawns.
So, how did Leeds United quietly become a proper club again? I know that might seem like an early judgment to make, but take one look at social media and the overwhelming majority of content is focused around transfer rumours and complaints that we haven’t signed any players in two days. For football, that’s the standard summer routine. The first step towards normality was Radrizzani himself coming in with;
1) a business background, most recently in sports broadcasting and marketing
2) money
3) not being Ken Bates
4) no impending court cases.
Immediately that gives him a clear advantage over pretty much all owners of Leeds United for the past 20 years.
He was faced with an early challenge after Garry Monk opted to leave the club at the end of his contract, with differences over their visions for the club and Monk’s clear knowledge of opportunity elsewhere proving to be terminal for his future at the club. To remain calm and patient amidst the panic and hysteria of a fan base who’d seen it all before, and feared the same again, showed the resolve and leadership necessary from an owner of a club that needs prolonged restorative action. To make the decision to appoint a coach who is a relative unknown to the fans and media, again shows the strength of conviction to implement a long-term plan when it might not appease all.
The reintroduction of the Leeds United Ladies to the club is important, it gives them vital funding and will help to inspire a generation of young women to get involved with football, something that has been horrendously overlooked in recent years. The cost-cutting measures put in place have stripped the club to the bones in certain aspects, and the scrapping of the Ladies’ team left a bitter taste in the mouth for a lot of hard-working and fantastic people who were involved in the club, and the re-integration of the side will hopefully benefit football in the area for years to come.
Quietly getting on with the job at hand. I know it seems ridiculous to have to point this out as a good thing, but between Publicity Pete, Bates public broadcasts, Salem’s smiley emoticons and Cellino’s never-ending press conferences, we’ve grown accustomed to a plethora of club propaganda. The stadium is back under the Leeds United football club umbrella, and it came with a neat video and social media promotion to boot. That such an important acquisition could happen without the endless discussion and proclamation beforehand signifies the start of a brave new world for English football’s greatest soap opera (03-17, previously Harchester United).
With an organised pre-season set up and pre-season training beginning a week before the end of July, it allows the staff to implement their ideas and test them out before the season begins, essentially what a pre-season should be used for. Issues have arisen in pre-season already, with local authorities in Austria calling off Leeds’ first friendly of the tour off at the last minute over health and safety warnings, primarily due to a group of 60 organised hooligans intending to attend the friendly. The communication around this wasn’t ideal, and although it was largely out of the control of the club, it isn’t a good look for what should be a straightforward tour. With fans clamouring for information, it became apparent that Leeds had then organised a ‘behind closed doors’ friendly with Turkish side Bursaspor, which was then broadcast live by the Turkish club on their social channels. This, in typical Leeds fashion, was then interrupted several times due to legal threats and then terminated because Bursaspor had failed to gain the correct UEFA permits to broadcast the game. Perhaps this highlights that no matter what you do, fundamentally the universe will always find a way to align and cause something ludicrous to happen to Leeds United. Only death, taxes and Leeds United’s ability for histrionics are certain in life.
Recruitment is an issue that affects all clubs, from the wealthiest to the poorest, and it is ultimately what will decide where the club should be aiming for this season. But with two loan signings being made permanent in Jansson and Sacko, with a long term contract for Vieira, and new signings made with central midfielder Mateusz Klich and goalkeeper Felix Wiedwald joining, it was a promising start to the summer’s recruitment. Vurnon Anita is a very astute signing; with over 100 Premier League appearances, a Championship winners medal from last season with Newcastle, he is a graduate of Ajax’s academy, he is versatile and at 28 he joins in the peak of his career. The long-running sagas of Samuel Saiz and Ezgjan Alioski finally came to an end with Leeds actually completing the deals. I guess I’ve become so used to these sagas ending with the player going somewhere else that it wasn’t until it was officially announced that I truly believed it. The saga that was Federico Viviani leaves me a little skeptical. He was set to sign for the club back in 2014 until he saw a pre-season friendly, after which he promptly caught the first flight back to Italy because he realised how terrible the squad actually was. Radrizzani had the benefit of the past few months to observe the club and get to know the surroundings, one thing he will certainly be aware of is how a lack of depth can hamper a team at the business end of the season, and it’s highly unlikely that the same thing will happen this season.
http://www.idradebeleeds.com/featured/new-leeds-united-owner-bringing-focus-back-football/