Emne: Tidligere eier og storaksjonær: Andrea Radrizzani - fra 23/5-2017- 17/7-2023

[Promotion 2010]

Andrea Radrizziani - er tilbake i Leeds!

Good vibes at ER! Great to be back in Leeds to open the new club shop and launch our kit #LUFC @LUFC

[Promotion 2010]

Lee Sobot

Andrea Radrizzani at #lufc kit launch: "We are Leeds United, we need to compete for the top. I think the play-offs are the target and if we were not able to achieve this, it is not a good season for sure. If we do more than that it will be a dream so we know what we fight for."

[Promotion 2010]

Whiteandright

If this greedy was called Bates-Cellino he would’ve been hounded out of our club a year ago.. This greedy owner has now sold more players worth then Bates ever did in all his years, must be close to 30millin+ worth in year but because he isn’t called Bates still get support #lufc




 

Solgt Wood, Taylor og Vieira for 17, 7 og 6! Ganske så god butikk akkurat det!

[Jon R]

Whiteandright

If this greedy was called Bates-Cellino he would’ve been hounded out of our club a year ago.. This greedy owner has now sold more players worth then Bates ever did in all his years, must be close to 30millin+ worth in year but because he isn’t called Bates still get support #lufc




 

Solgt Wood, Taylor og Vieira for 17, 7 og 6! Ganske så god butikk akkurat det!

Faen så steike dumme enkelte folk er i hue. Finn minst 5 feil i påstandene hans. Radrizzani har brukt mer på klubben enn hva Bates og Cellino gjorde tilsammen. Dette selv om du trekker fra summen av de han har solgt! Er vel oppe i 2 mrd +++ nå.

[baste]

Whiteandright

If this greedy was called Bates-Cellino he would’ve been hounded out of our club a year ago.. This greedy owner has now sold more players worth then Bates ever did in all his years, must be close to 30millin+ worth in year but because he isn’t called Bates still get support #lufc




 

Solgt Wood, Taylor og Vieira for 17, 7 og 6! Ganske så god butikk akkurat det!

Faen så steike dumme enkelte folk er i hue. Finn minst 5 feil i påstandene hans. Radrizzani har brukt mer på klubben enn hva Bates og Cellino gjorde tilsammen. Dette selv om du trekker fra summen av de han har solgt! Er vel oppe i 2 mrd +++ nå.

+1  Elland Road kjøpt tilbake, pusset opp, ryddet opp I rotet som var I klubben. Dette er uten tvil den beste eier vi har hatt på veldig lenge. Liker at vi kan streame kampene, og nå som det var problemer, så fikk folk pengene igjen.
Vi har mye bra å se fram til, Leeds vil komme seg opp til PL, om ikke I år, så neste år

MOT

[Bjorn]

Whiteandright

If this greedy was called Bates-Cellino he would’ve been hounded out of our club a year ago.. This greedy owner has now sold more players worth then Bates ever did in all his years, must be close to 30millin+ worth in year but because he isn’t called Bates still get support #lufc




 

Solgt Wood, Taylor og Vieira for 17, 7 og 6! Ganske så god butikk akkurat det!

Faen så steike dumme enkelte folk er i hue. Finn minst 5 feil i påstandene hans. Radrizzani har brukt mer på klubben enn hva Bates og Cellino gjorde tilsammen. Dette selv om du trekker fra summen av de han har solgt! Er vel oppe i 2 mrd +++ nå.

+1  Elland Road kjøpt tilbake, pusset opp, ryddet opp I rotet som var I klubben. Dette er uten tvil den beste eier vi har hatt på veldig lenge. Liker at vi kan streame kampene, og nå som det var problemer, så fikk folk pengene igjen.
Vi har mye bra å se fram til, Leeds vil komme seg opp til PL, om ikke I år, så neste år

MOT

Håper noen har vist han ''whiteandright' kællen over hvor skapet står snakker om vrøvl! 

[Torpe-do]

I lys av overgangen til Bamford, som ryktes å vere verdt alt frå 6 til 10 millionar pund. Kor mange år sidan er det ikkje me har brukt slike pengar på ein spelar?

Eg minnast då me signerte Murphy. Mange var i taket over at me signerte vår fyste 6-sifra spelar. Den var vel rundt 1 million, var det ikkje?

No går ryktene altså på spelarar av heilt andre kaliber. Ein back til rundt 4 millionar, liksom. Hadde vore fullstendig urealistisk for ikkje mange år sidan.

[Blank_File]

Whiteandright

If this greedy was called Bates-Cellino he would’ve been hounded out of our club a year ago.. This greedy owner has now sold more players worth then Bates ever did in all his years, must be close to 30millin+ worth in year but because he isn’t called Bates still get support #lufc




 

Solgt Wood, Taylor og Vieira for 17, 7 og 6! Ganske så god butikk akkurat det!

Faen så steike dumme enkelte folk er i hue. Finn minst 5 feil i påstandene hans. Radrizzani har brukt mer på klubben enn hva Bates og Cellino gjorde tilsammen. Dette selv om du trekker fra summen av de han har solgt! Er vel oppe i 2 mrd +++ nå.

+1  Elland Road kjøpt tilbake, pusset opp, ryddet opp I rotet som var I klubben. Dette er uten tvil den beste eier vi har hatt på veldig lenge. Liker at vi kan streame kampene, og nå som det var problemer, så fikk folk pengene igjen.
Vi har mye bra å se fram til, Leeds vil komme seg opp til PL, om ikke I år, så neste år

MOT

Det er jo en langt større bragd å få så mye penger for tre spillere, enn Bates som solgte så fort noen la en million på bordet. I tillegg, som også er nevnt, så handler vi jo inn på en helt annen hylle. Denne sommeren kan jo fort bli helt fantastisk hvis vi får inn Bamford og enda et ganske solid kjøp.

[RoarG]

Whiteandright

If this greedy was called Bates-Cellino he would’ve been hounded out of our club a year ago.. This greedy owner has now sold more players worth then Bates ever did in all his years, must be close to 30millin+ worth in year but because he isn’t called Bates still get support #lufc




 

Solgt Wood, Taylor og Vieira for 17, 7 og 6! Ganske så god butikk akkurat det!

Faen så steike dumme enkelte folk er i hue. Finn minst 5 feil i påstandene hans. Radrizzani har brukt mer på klubben enn hva Bates og Cellino gjorde tilsammen. Dette selv om du trekker fra summen av de han har solgt! Er vel oppe i 2 mrd +++ nå.

Alltid noen som mener at glasset er halvtomt.

[Jon R]

Når det gjelder Taylor var jo han «out of contract» og nektet å undertegne ny kontrakt med oss. Blir helt feil å si at han ble «solgt». De 6 mill fikk vi som «compensation fee» for ung spiller som hadde gått gradene i eget akademi.

[Torpe-do]

Når det gjelder Taylor var jo han «out of contract» og nektet å undertegne ny kontrakt med oss. Blir helt feil å si at han ble «solgt». De 6 mill fikk vi som «compensation fee» for ung spiller som hadde gått gradene i eget akademi.

Det er eit godt poeng. Ein kan kanskje spekulere i om framgangsmåte og/eller tilbod for ny kontrakt ikkje var god nok, men trur eg ikkje er tilfelle. Taylor ville spele i PL, han. Og det trur eg ikkje det er mange eigarar som hadde klart å stoppe.

[Jon R]

Når det gjelder Taylor var jo han «out of contract» og nektet å undertegne ny kontrakt med oss. Blir helt feil å si at han ble «solgt». De 6 mill fikk vi som «compensation fee» for ung spiller som hadde gått gradene i eget akademi.

Det er eit godt poeng. Ein kan kanskje spekulere i om framgangsmåte og/eller tilbod for ny kontrakt ikkje var god nok, men trur eg ikkje er tilfelle. Taylor ville spele i PL, han. Og det trur eg ikkje det er mange eigarar som hadde klart å stoppe.

Han var ikke interessert i å forhandle om ny kontrakt.

[auren]

Når det gjelder Taylor var jo han «out of contract» og nektet å undertegne ny kontrakt med oss. Blir helt feil å si at han ble «solgt». De 6 mill fikk vi som «compensation fee» for ung spiller som hadde gått gradene i eget akademi.

Det er eit godt poeng. Ein kan kanskje spekulere i om framgangsmåte og/eller tilbod for ny kontrakt ikkje var god nok, men trur eg ikkje er tilfelle. Taylor ville spele i PL, han. Og det trur eg ikkje det er mange eigarar som hadde klart å stoppe.

Han var ikke interessert i å forhandle om ny kontrakt.

Kanskje ikke så rart. Cellino fikset den biffen med å gå ut i media og være en klovn da det gjaldt kontraktsforhandlingene mener jeg.. Hadde Rad vært eier på det tidspunktet hadde han blitt værende tror jeg..

auren

[Jon R]

Når det gjelder Taylor var jo han «out of contract» og nektet å undertegne ny kontrakt med oss. Blir helt feil å si at han ble «solgt». De 6 mill fikk vi som «compensation fee» for ung spiller som hadde gått gradene i eget akademi.

Det er eit godt poeng. Ein kan kanskje spekulere i om framgangsmåte og/eller tilbod for ny kontrakt ikkje var god nok, men trur eg ikkje er tilfelle. Taylor ville spele i PL, han. Og det trur eg ikkje det er mange eigarar som hadde klart å stoppe.

Han var ikke interessert i å forhandle om ny kontrakt.

Kanskje ikke så rart. Cellino fikset den biffen med å gå ut i media og være en klovn da det gjaldt kontraktsforhandlingene mener jeg.. Hadde Rad vært eier på det tidspunktet hadde han blitt værende tror jeg..

auren

Det var vel først og fremst Monk som uttalte seg kritisk om Taylor og agenten hans, var det ikke?

[Promotion 2010]

Phil Hay i YEP

Exclusive interview: Leeds United chairman Andrea Radrizzani on Bielsa, transfers and the season ahead

Phil Hay
Published: 15:05 Saturday 04 August 2018
 Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani
Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani
Andrea Radrizzani and Victor Orta were in the back of a car discussing head coaches when Marcelo Bielsa’s name came up. A great idea, Orta said, but an impossible appointment in practice; too complicated, too expensive and no guarantee that Bielsa would even return their calls. “For me,” Radrizzani says, “that gave me more desire to make it possible.”


In no time, Bielsa replied and asked for a meeting. Radrizzani went first to Argentina, beginning a conversation which Orta and Angus Kinnear, Leeds United’s director of football and managing director, continued through May and half of June. It was a risky process and not only because of the seven-figure salary on the table: weeks spent working on a contract which could have fallen down over technicalities or at the whim of the Football Association’s work permit panel.

 Andrea Radrizzani unveils Leeds United head coach Marcelo Bielsa.
Andrea Radrizzani unveils Leeds United head coach Marcelo Bielsa.
Stung twice by two fledgling managers last season, Radrizzani took the plunge and tried to punch above his weight. “The moment he asked to meet with me, I took the plane,” he says. “I went there and to see if we could get along well. He’s a very straightforward person and an ambitious manager, because he took a challenge that’s not easy. I was happy to see someone very meticulous with the job, a hard worker, big on the details. The real job starts tomorrow. We will see.”

It starts against Stoke City, Leeds’ first game of the new season, and Radrizzani is pleased to have a new hand on the tiller. In May, after the club finished 13th in the Championship, he decided that this season would not be left to Paul Heckingbottom, Bielsa’s predecessor, and sacked him after four months in the job. In trying to repair what he called the “mistake” of appointing Thomas Christiansen last summer, Radrizzani made another and wasted £500,000 by hurrying through Heckingbottom’s arrival from Barnsley in February. A decaying campaign died rapidly under Heckingbottom, with little in the way of optimism to cling to.

“Paul came in a difficult moment,” Radrizzani says. “We were losing game and points and getting a distance from the play-offs. I wanted to try to give a shock to the team and stay around the play-offs. It didn’t work but not all for his fault.

“I think Paul could have a good career as a manager because he’s direct, ambitious and motivated. Probably he needs more time to grow. But at this point we can’t wait for someone to come here and form himself, with all respect. It was the same with Thomas.”

Former Leeds boss Paul Heckingbottom, who Leeds sacked on June 1.

His remarks about Heckingbottom are not unlike the comments made about Christiansen when the Dane was dismissed and Bielsa - the exceptionally experienced, inspirational Argentinian - looks like the penny dropping at the third attempt. “When I decided to change Paul, I didn’t have any doubt that I wanted to have a manager with charisma and leadership which everybody else in the organisation would follow,” Radrizzani says.

So what target for Bielsa, considering that two managers paid with their jobs for the failings of last season? “Not to be sacked,” Radrizzani jokes. “But the reality is that if we are Leeds, we need to compete, which means in the top six teams at the end of the season.”

In their defence, Heckingbottom and Christiansen might ask what even a man with Bielsa’s reputation would have done with the squad they were given. Radrizzani concedes that the responsibility for last season “should be shared” and blame attached to recruitment. Leeds, he says, spent more than £20m on the players they signed, only to finish in the bottom half of the table and find themselves paying off or auctioning a number of them this summer. They are also redressing the mass signing of development-squad players which strained the wage bill further. Since May, a change of strategy at Elland Road has been obvious: not a single signing arriving from abroad and two - Barry Douglas and Patrick Bamford - who have torn up the Championship before. “We invested more than £20m on 13, 15 players and they didn’t achieve a good result,” Radrizzani says. “We had to change this.”

What didn’t change was the recruitment department itself. Orta, Leeds’ Spanish scouting chief, has become a lightning rod for criticism of mistakes in the transfer market, the point of blame for so many outside the club. Despite misplaced expenditure last season, Radrizzani was and still remains entirely supportive of him.

Derby County striker and Leeds United summer target Matej Vydra.

“Everybody can do mistakes in my organisation, including me,” Radrizzani says. “As far as they do their best and have passion, they are fine to learn from mistakes. Unless it’s his desire to leave, I will not have any doubt about that. I trust him and Angus. This summer has been more rational than the last one. We knew what we had to do.

“How much money lost last season? The frustration is a lot. But in the end I agree with Victor: they are not good or bad players. I can name someone like (Jay-Roy) Grot (now on loan with VVV Venlo in Holland). He’s a very good talent but he’s young and the jump to play in a stadium of 30,000 people every week is not easy to take. I hope a player like him can come back stronger and be part of the future.

“It was not wrong decisions in terms of picking bad players. Maybe we picked players who at the moment cannot be part of this project. The pressure is very high. We can’t wait 10 years.”

That urgency was shown in some of the players who Leeds went after in this transfer window. The club spoke at length with Abel Hernandez - a free agent after declining a new contract at Hull City - but could not afford financial demands which amounted to more than £100,000 a week all-in. Radrizzani says there were concerns about the Achilles injury Hernandez suffered last season and earlier this week, the Uruguayan signed for CSKA Moscow.

Marcelo Bielsa on the touchline for Leeds United's pre-season friendly at Forest Green.

Matej Vydra was next on the list as Leeds, in Radrizzani’s words, looked for “a striker with goals and proven experience in the Championship, and a striker who could be a sign of intent and ambition beside the manager.” Radrizzani says a fee was agreed with Derby County but that talks over personal terms came to nothing. Leeds, in any case, were not convinced that Vydra was as interested in the transfer as an alternative like Bamford. “No doubt Vydra is a great player but we want to have players who feel it’s special to wear the white jersey,” Radrizzani says. “He didn’t show it. He could think it but if he doesn’t show it with action, it’s difficult.”

More frustrating again was the failure to sign Florian Jozefzoon, the Dutch winger who left Brentford for Derby last month. “We received the contract from the club (Brentford) and we had written approval from the agent. Then, on the way to the medical check here, they change ideas and go to another club. Honestly, I’m happy he didn’t come here. Good luck to him but we don’t want people like this.”

The ability to approach players like Hernandez and Vydra was helped by an investment of around £10m made in Leeds by 49ers Enterprises, the investment branch of the San Francisco 49ers NFL Franchise. Radrizzani sold a 12 per cent stake in the club in return for that money, promising the cash would be directed into the first team.

At the time of his first investment in 2016, Radrizzani spoke of pursuing a five-year plan at Leeds: of buying back Elland Road, building a new training ground in the city centre and sticking with the project unless five years elapsed without promotion. Both he and the 49ers have denied that the recent investment could be the first step to a full buy-out - “the only reason someone would take over is because I’m failing,” Radrizzani says - but he learned a hard lesson in football club ownership last season, falling well short in the Championship and wading through various PR scrapes.

Is the same enthusiasm still there? “I’m more rational, a bit more nervous now, but I have faith,” he says. “I know it (promotion) will happen. I don’t know when, but it will happen.

“If I don’t go up after a few years then I’ll sell because it means my cycle is done and someone else should do it. It’s a loss-making league and it’s not fun to put money every year into a business that loses money.

“The club needs money always in this league. In the last 12 months we made a lot of investment in the first team and youth team but still we can’t reach break even in this upcoming season. We still need resources.”

No head coach at Leeds has ever cost more money than Bielsa, the highest paid manager in United’s history on a two-year contract worth more than £2m annually. Meticulous is the word most often used around Bielsa but the 63-year-old can be volatile and his last job, at Lille, was a costly experiment all round.

Radrizzani believes he can keep Bielsa happy. “We need to be honest with each other,” he says. “I’ve been honest about the financial need of the club from day one and the risk that we might consider selling one or two players. He’s been honest with me, asking for what he needs to deliver - certain kinds of players.

“The leader is an important role. Players are important but if you don’t have a good leader, you lose investment in the players. It (Bielsa’s salary) is not really a gamble. It’s a sign of ambition and stating our intent to play a role in the league.”

Bielsa’s appointment has created outward belief that Leeds will. So much of it often proves to be blind but no-one does faith like Leeds United and in that spirit, Radrizzani is hopeful. Leeds have signed five players, three on loan from the Premier League, and the Italian insists the “priorities have been accomplished” in the transfer market. “We maybe have one or two more positions where we need. It also depends on opportunities we have in the market.”

He is tired of being asked if this is the year and admits to feeling a touch of nerves with tomorrow’s game against Stoke approaching. “Last year I just felt excited.” But is he genuinely confident? “In everything I do,” he says. “If it doesn’t happen this year, it’ll be next year. Or the next one.”

[Promotion 2010]

Deancore

interview really positive. Bringing in cash & reinvesting rather than offering the club loans and building debt is something we’ve not had for decades.

improving the infrastructure. Fantastic

downplaying the club finances & power. clever

learning from mistakes. honourable

[DenHviteYeboah]

Phil Hay i YEP

Exclusive interview: Leeds United chairman Andrea Radrizzani on Bielsa, transfers and the season ahead

Phil Hay
Published: 15:05 Saturday 04 August 2018
 Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani
Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani
Andrea Radrizzani and Victor Orta were in the back of a car discussing head coaches when Marcelo Bielsa’s name came up. A great idea, Orta said, but an impossible appointment in practice; too complicated, too expensive and no guarantee that Bielsa would even return their calls. “For me,” Radrizzani says, “that gave me more desire to make it possible.”


In no time, Bielsa replied and asked for a meeting. Radrizzani went first to Argentina, beginning a conversation which Orta and Angus Kinnear, Leeds United’s director of football and managing director, continued through May and half of June. It was a risky process and not only because of the seven-figure salary on the table: weeks spent working on a contract which could have fallen down over technicalities or at the whim of the Football Association’s work permit panel.

 Andrea Radrizzani unveils Leeds United head coach Marcelo Bielsa.
Andrea Radrizzani unveils Leeds United head coach Marcelo Bielsa.
Stung twice by two fledgling managers last season, Radrizzani took the plunge and tried to punch above his weight. “The moment he asked to meet with me, I took the plane,” he says. “I went there and to see if we could get along well. He’s a very straightforward person and an ambitious manager, because he took a challenge that’s not easy. I was happy to see someone very meticulous with the job, a hard worker, big on the details. The real job starts tomorrow. We will see.”

It starts against Stoke City, Leeds’ first game of the new season, and Radrizzani is pleased to have a new hand on the tiller. In May, after the club finished 13th in the Championship, he decided that this season would not be left to Paul Heckingbottom, Bielsa’s predecessor, and sacked him after four months in the job. In trying to repair what he called the “mistake” of appointing Thomas Christiansen last summer, Radrizzani made another and wasted £500,000 by hurrying through Heckingbottom’s arrival from Barnsley in February. A decaying campaign died rapidly under Heckingbottom, with little in the way of optimism to cling to.

“Paul came in a difficult moment,” Radrizzani says. “We were losing game and points and getting a distance from the play-offs. I wanted to try to give a shock to the team and stay around the play-offs. It didn’t work but not all for his fault.

“I think Paul could have a good career as a manager because he’s direct, ambitious and motivated. Probably he needs more time to grow. But at this point we can’t wait for someone to come here and form himself, with all respect. It was the same with Thomas.”

Former Leeds boss Paul Heckingbottom, who Leeds sacked on June 1.

His remarks about Heckingbottom are not unlike the comments made about Christiansen when the Dane was dismissed and Bielsa - the exceptionally experienced, inspirational Argentinian - looks like the penny dropping at the third attempt. “When I decided to change Paul, I didn’t have any doubt that I wanted to have a manager with charisma and leadership which everybody else in the organisation would follow,” Radrizzani says.

So what target for Bielsa, considering that two managers paid with their jobs for the failings of last season? “Not to be sacked,” Radrizzani jokes. “But the reality is that if we are Leeds, we need to compete, which means in the top six teams at the end of the season.”

In their defence, Heckingbottom and Christiansen might ask what even a man with Bielsa’s reputation would have done with the squad they were given. Radrizzani concedes that the responsibility for last season “should be shared” and blame attached to recruitment. Leeds, he says, spent more than £20m on the players they signed, only to finish in the bottom half of the table and find themselves paying off or auctioning a number of them this summer. They are also redressing the mass signing of development-squad players which strained the wage bill further. Since May, a change of strategy at Elland Road has been obvious: not a single signing arriving from abroad and two - Barry Douglas and Patrick Bamford - who have torn up the Championship before. “We invested more than £20m on 13, 15 players and they didn’t achieve a good result,” Radrizzani says. “We had to change this.”

What didn’t change was the recruitment department itself. Orta, Leeds’ Spanish scouting chief, has become a lightning rod for criticism of mistakes in the transfer market, the point of blame for so many outside the club. Despite misplaced expenditure last season, Radrizzani was and still remains entirely supportive of him.

Derby County striker and Leeds United summer target Matej Vydra.

“Everybody can do mistakes in my organisation, including me,” Radrizzani says. “As far as they do their best and have passion, they are fine to learn from mistakes. Unless it’s his desire to leave, I will not have any doubt about that. I trust him and Angus. This summer has been more rational than the last one. We knew what we had to do.

“How much money lost last season? The frustration is a lot. But in the end I agree with Victor: they are not good or bad players. I can name someone like (Jay-Roy) Grot (now on loan with VVV Venlo in Holland). He’s a very good talent but he’s young and the jump to play in a stadium of 30,000 people every week is not easy to take. I hope a player like him can come back stronger and be part of the future.

“It was not wrong decisions in terms of picking bad players. Maybe we picked players who at the moment cannot be part of this project. The pressure is very high. We can’t wait 10 years.”

That urgency was shown in some of the players who Leeds went after in this transfer window. The club spoke at length with Abel Hernandez - a free agent after declining a new contract at Hull City - but could not afford financial demands which amounted to more than £100,000 a week all-in. Radrizzani says there were concerns about the Achilles injury Hernandez suffered last season and earlier this week, the Uruguayan signed for CSKA Moscow.

Marcelo Bielsa on the touchline for Leeds United's pre-season friendly at Forest Green.

Matej Vydra was next on the list as Leeds, in Radrizzani’s words, looked for “a striker with goals and proven experience in the Championship, and a striker who could be a sign of intent and ambition beside the manager.” Radrizzani says a fee was agreed with Derby County but that talks over personal terms came to nothing. Leeds, in any case, were not convinced that Vydra was as interested in the transfer as an alternative like Bamford. “No doubt Vydra is a great player but we want to have players who feel it’s special to wear the white jersey,” Radrizzani says. “He didn’t show it. He could think it but if he doesn’t show it with action, it’s difficult.”

More frustrating again was the failure to sign Florian Jozefzoon, the Dutch winger who left Brentford for Derby last month. “We received the contract from the club (Brentford) and we had written approval from the agent. Then, on the way to the medical check here, they change ideas and go to another club. Honestly, I’m happy he didn’t come here. Good luck to him but we don’t want people like this.”

The ability to approach players like Hernandez and Vydra was helped by an investment of around £10m made in Leeds by 49ers Enterprises, the investment branch of the San Francisco 49ers NFL Franchise. Radrizzani sold a 12 per cent stake in the club in return for that money, promising the cash would be directed into the first team.

At the time of his first investment in 2016, Radrizzani spoke of pursuing a five-year plan at Leeds: of buying back Elland Road, building a new training ground in the city centre and sticking with the project unless five years elapsed without promotion. Both he and the 49ers have denied that the recent investment could be the first step to a full buy-out - “the only reason someone would take over is because I’m failing,” Radrizzani says - but he learned a hard lesson in football club ownership last season, falling well short in the Championship and wading through various PR scrapes.

Is the same enthusiasm still there? “I’m more rational, a bit more nervous now, but I have faith,” he says. “I know it (promotion) will happen. I don’t know when, but it will happen.

“If I don’t go up after a few years then I’ll sell because it means my cycle is done and someone else should do it. It’s a loss-making league and it’s not fun to put money every year into a business that loses money.

“The club needs money always in this league. In the last 12 months we made a lot of investment in the first team and youth team but still we can’t reach break even in this upcoming season. We still need resources.”

No head coach at Leeds has ever cost more money than Bielsa, the highest paid manager in United’s history on a two-year contract worth more than £2m annually. Meticulous is the word most often used around Bielsa but the 63-year-old can be volatile and his last job, at Lille, was a costly experiment all round.

Radrizzani believes he can keep Bielsa happy. “We need to be honest with each other,” he says. “I’ve been honest about the financial need of the club from day one and the risk that we might consider selling one or two players. He’s been honest with me, asking for what he needs to deliver - certain kinds of players.

“The leader is an important role. Players are important but if you don’t have a good leader, you lose investment in the players. It (Bielsa’s salary) is not really a gamble. It’s a sign of ambition and stating our intent to play a role in the league.”

Bielsa’s appointment has created outward belief that Leeds will. So much of it often proves to be blind but no-one does faith like Leeds United and in that spirit, Radrizzani is hopeful. Leeds have signed five players, three on loan from the Premier League, and the Italian insists the “priorities have been accomplished” in the transfer market. “We maybe have one or two more positions where we need. It also depends on opportunities we have in the market.”

He is tired of being asked if this is the year and admits to feeling a touch of nerves with tomorrow’s game against Stoke approaching. “Last year I just felt excited.” But is he genuinely confident? “In everything I do,” he says. “If it doesn’t happen this year, it’ll be next year. Or the next one.”

Nøyaktig dette har bla hb sagt i årevis. Man skal ikke ansette trenere som kanskje kan bli noe. Men han har jo fått tyn av flere "orakler" om akkurat dette....nå som Rad sier nøyaktig det samme, så kan vi kanskje gi ham rett i dette? eller..?

[Jon R]

Forbausende åpen og ærlig om feila fra i fjor, noe som naturligvis øker sjansen for at læringskurven blir bratt!

[Eriksen55]

Phil Hay i YEP

Exclusive interview: Leeds United chairman Andrea Radrizzani on Bielsa, transfers and the season ahead

Phil Hay
Published: 15:05 Saturday 04 August 2018
 Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani
Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani
Andrea Radrizzani and Victor Orta were in the back of a car discussing head coaches when Marcelo Bielsa’s name came up. A great idea, Orta said, but an impossible appointment in practice; too complicated, too expensive and no guarantee that Bielsa would even return their calls. “For me,” Radrizzani says, “that gave me more desire to make it possible.”


In no time, Bielsa replied and asked for a meeting. Radrizzani went first to Argentina, beginning a conversation which Orta and Angus Kinnear, Leeds United’s director of football and managing director, continued through May and half of June. It was a risky process and not only because of the seven-figure salary on the table: weeks spent working on a contract which could have fallen down over technicalities or at the whim of the Football Association’s work permit panel.

 Andrea Radrizzani unveils Leeds United head coach Marcelo Bielsa.
Andrea Radrizzani unveils Leeds United head coach Marcelo Bielsa.
Stung twice by two fledgling managers last season, Radrizzani took the plunge and tried to punch above his weight. “The moment he asked to meet with me, I took the plane,” he says. “I went there and to see if we could get along well. He’s a very straightforward person and an ambitious manager, because he took a challenge that’s not easy. I was happy to see someone very meticulous with the job, a hard worker, big on the details. The real job starts tomorrow. We will see.”

It starts against Stoke City, Leeds’ first game of the new season, and Radrizzani is pleased to have a new hand on the tiller. In May, after the club finished 13th in the Championship, he decided that this season would not be left to Paul Heckingbottom, Bielsa’s predecessor, and sacked him after four months in the job. In trying to repair what he called the “mistake” of appointing Thomas Christiansen last summer, Radrizzani made another and wasted £500,000 by hurrying through Heckingbottom’s arrival from Barnsley in February. A decaying campaign died rapidly under Heckingbottom, with little in the way of optimism to cling to.

“Paul came in a difficult moment,” Radrizzani says. “We were losing game and points and getting a distance from the play-offs. I wanted to try to give a shock to the team and stay around the play-offs. It didn’t work but not all for his fault.

“I think Paul could have a good career as a manager because he’s direct, ambitious and motivated. Probably he needs more time to grow. But at this point we can’t wait for someone to come here and form himself, with all respect. It was the same with Thomas.”

Former Leeds boss Paul Heckingbottom, who Leeds sacked on June 1.

His remarks about Heckingbottom are not unlike the comments made about Christiansen when the Dane was dismissed and Bielsa - the exceptionally experienced, inspirational Argentinian - looks like the penny dropping at the third attempt. “When I decided to change Paul, I didn’t have any doubt that I wanted to have a manager with charisma and leadership which everybody else in the organisation would follow,” Radrizzani says.

So what target for Bielsa, considering that two managers paid with their jobs for the failings of last season? “Not to be sacked,” Radrizzani jokes. “But the reality is that if we are Leeds, we need to compete, which means in the top six teams at the end of the season.”

In their defence, Heckingbottom and Christiansen might ask what even a man with Bielsa’s reputation would have done with the squad they were given. Radrizzani concedes that the responsibility for last season “should be shared” and blame attached to recruitment. Leeds, he says, spent more than £20m on the players they signed, only to finish in the bottom half of the table and find themselves paying off or auctioning a number of them this summer. They are also redressing the mass signing of development-squad players which strained the wage bill further. Since May, a change of strategy at Elland Road has been obvious: not a single signing arriving from abroad and two - Barry Douglas and Patrick Bamford - who have torn up the Championship before. “We invested more than £20m on 13, 15 players and they didn’t achieve a good result,” Radrizzani says. “We had to change this.”

What didn’t change was the recruitment department itself. Orta, Leeds’ Spanish scouting chief, has become a lightning rod for criticism of mistakes in the transfer market, the point of blame for so many outside the club. Despite misplaced expenditure last season, Radrizzani was and still remains entirely supportive of him.

Derby County striker and Leeds United summer target Matej Vydra.

“Everybody can do mistakes in my organisation, including me,” Radrizzani says. “As far as they do their best and have passion, they are fine to learn from mistakes. Unless it’s his desire to leave, I will not have any doubt about that. I trust him and Angus. This summer has been more rational than the last one. We knew what we had to do.

“How much money lost last season? The frustration is a lot. But in the end I agree with Victor: they are not good or bad players. I can name someone like (Jay-Roy) Grot (now on loan with VVV Venlo in Holland). He’s a very good talent but he’s young and the jump to play in a stadium of 30,000 people every week is not easy to take. I hope a player like him can come back stronger and be part of the future.

“It was not wrong decisions in terms of picking bad players. Maybe we picked players who at the moment cannot be part of this project. The pressure is very high. We can’t wait 10 years.”

That urgency was shown in some of the players who Leeds went after in this transfer window. The club spoke at length with Abel Hernandez - a free agent after declining a new contract at Hull City - but could not afford financial demands which amounted to more than £100,000 a week all-in. Radrizzani says there were concerns about the Achilles injury Hernandez suffered last season and earlier this week, the Uruguayan signed for CSKA Moscow.

Marcelo Bielsa on the touchline for Leeds United's pre-season friendly at Forest Green.

Matej Vydra was next on the list as Leeds, in Radrizzani’s words, looked for “a striker with goals and proven experience in the Championship, and a striker who could be a sign of intent and ambition beside the manager.” Radrizzani says a fee was agreed with Derby County but that talks over personal terms came to nothing. Leeds, in any case, were not convinced that Vydra was as interested in the transfer as an alternative like Bamford. “No doubt Vydra is a great player but we want to have players who feel it’s special to wear the white jersey,” Radrizzani says. “He didn’t show it. He could think it but if he doesn’t show it with action, it’s difficult.”

More frustrating again was the failure to sign Florian Jozefzoon, the Dutch winger who left Brentford for Derby last month. “We received the contract from the club (Brentford) and we had written approval from the agent. Then, on the way to the medical check here, they change ideas and go to another club. Honestly, I’m happy he didn’t come here. Good luck to him but we don’t want people like this.”

The ability to approach players like Hernandez and Vydra was helped by an investment of around £10m made in Leeds by 49ers Enterprises, the investment branch of the San Francisco 49ers NFL Franchise. Radrizzani sold a 12 per cent stake in the club in return for that money, promising the cash would be directed into the first team.

At the time of his first investment in 2016, Radrizzani spoke of pursuing a five-year plan at Leeds: of buying back Elland Road, building a new training ground in the city centre and sticking with the project unless five years elapsed without promotion. Both he and the 49ers have denied that the recent investment could be the first step to a full buy-out - “the only reason someone would take over is because I’m failing,” Radrizzani says - but he learned a hard lesson in football club ownership last season, falling well short in the Championship and wading through various PR scrapes.

Is the same enthusiasm still there? “I’m more rational, a bit more nervous now, but I have faith,” he says. “I know it (promotion) will happen. I don’t know when, but it will happen.

“If I don’t go up after a few years then I’ll sell because it means my cycle is done and someone else should do it. It’s a loss-making league and it’s not fun to put money every year into a business that loses money.

“The club needs money always in this league. In the last 12 months we made a lot of investment in the first team and youth team but still we can’t reach break even in this upcoming season. We still need resources.”

No head coach at Leeds has ever cost more money than Bielsa, the highest paid manager in United’s history on a two-year contract worth more than £2m annually. Meticulous is the word most often used around Bielsa but the 63-year-old can be volatile and his last job, at Lille, was a costly experiment all round.

Radrizzani believes he can keep Bielsa happy. “We need to be honest with each other,” he says. “I’ve been honest about the financial need of the club from day one and the risk that we might consider selling one or two players. He’s been honest with me, asking for what he needs to deliver - certain kinds of players.

“The leader is an important role. Players are important but if you don’t have a good leader, you lose investment in the players. It (Bielsa’s salary) is not really a gamble. It’s a sign of ambition and stating our intent to play a role in the league.”

Bielsa’s appointment has created outward belief that Leeds will. So much of it often proves to be blind but no-one does faith like Leeds United and in that spirit, Radrizzani is hopeful. Leeds have signed five players, three on loan from the Premier League, and the Italian insists the “priorities have been accomplished” in the transfer market. “We maybe have one or two more positions where we need. It also depends on opportunities we have in the market.”

He is tired of being asked if this is the year and admits to feeling a touch of nerves with tomorrow’s game against Stoke approaching. “Last year I just felt excited.” But is he genuinely confident? “In everything I do,” he says. “If it doesn’t happen this year, it’ll be next year. Or the next one.”

Nøyaktig dette har bla hb sagt i årevis. Man skal ikke ansette trenere som kanskje kan bli noe. Men han har jo fått tyn av flere "orakler" om akkurat dette....nå som Rad sier nøyaktig det samme, så kan vi kanskje gi ham rett i dette? eller..?

Få som har vært uenig. Men meg med flere er villige til å gi han uerfarne en sjanse. Man ønsker jo at han lykkes eller?
 Fryktelig enkelt å si at dette er noe dritt og han er udugelig, om alle som blir ansatt. Selvfølgelig har man rett innimellom da.

Nå er Rads sjef og det er andre tider. Han har ambisjoner og økonomien blir stadig sterkere. Da vil selvfølgelig kvaliteten på ansettelsene også bli bedre.

Dette er vel 2 eller 3 gang i løpet av uka jeg ser " hva var det vi sa" kortet blir brukt.

Jeg bøyer meg i hatren.

[Promotion 2010]

Deancore

interview really positive. Bringing in cash & reinvesting rather than offering the club loans and building debt is something we’ve not had for decades.

improving the infrastructure. Fantastic

downplaying the club finances & power. clever

learning from mistakes. honourable

Noen er ikke imponert over de «såkalte» investeringene:

BK
£16m Wood, £6m Taylor. He said we spent over £20m last season but we recouped it instantly. This year we got £10m from 49ers and £7m from Viera sale. We’ve spent £10m from a pot of £17m. I just don’t get it..


Mark Schofield
Leeds lose around 8m a year... 49ers investment goes straight in AR’s pocket to cover those losses it’s that simple


Positive for today at least, Andy
Radz loaned us £14.5m last year.  He then converted this to equity just before the 49ers bought in.  I think it's obvious he took their money to pay his loan back and considered the equity conversion to be him putting his 'half in'.


Deancore
Found investment so the club wasn’t in debt. Done the club a solid. Andy loves Radz pass it on

[Hallgeir *]

Føler meg tryggere etter å ha lest intervjuet med Radrizzani. Han innrømmer de feilene han har gjort, og det er en god ting når man er i en læringsprosess.

Som det bl.a. skrives:

"At the time of his first investment in 2016, Radrizzani spoke of pursuing a five-year plan at Leeds: of buying back Elland Road, building a new training ground in the city centre and sticking with the project unless five years elapsed without promotion. Both he and the 49ers have denied that the recent investment could be the first step to a full buy-out - “the only reason someone would take over is because I’m failing,” Radrizzani says - but he learned a hard lesson in football club ownership last season, falling well short in the Championship and wading through various PR scrapes.

Is the same enthusiasm still there? “I’m more rational, a bit more nervous now, but I have faith,” he says. “I know it (promotion) will happen. I don’t know when, but it will happen.

“If I don’t go up after a few years then I’ll sell because it means my cycle is done and someone else should do it. It’s a loss-making league and it’s not fun to put money every year into a business that loses money."

Kritikken har vært berettiget (h.b. og DHY m.fl.), men nå viser Rad styrke ved å satse på Bielsa. Det er tydelig at han mener alvor. Feilsatsing er også dyrt, men nå legges grunnlaget for opprykk ved å satse på kvalitet.

[DenHviteYeboah]

Phil Hay i YEP

Exclusive interview: Leeds United chairman Andrea Radrizzani on Bielsa, transfers and the season ahead

Phil Hay
Published: 15:05 Saturday 04 August 2018
 Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani
Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani
Andrea Radrizzani and Victor Orta were in the back of a car discussing head coaches when Marcelo Bielsa’s name came up. A great idea, Orta said, but an impossible appointment in practice; too complicated, too expensive and no guarantee that Bielsa would even return their calls. “For me,” Radrizzani says, “that gave me more desire to make it possible.”


In no time, Bielsa replied and asked for a meeting. Radrizzani went first to Argentina, beginning a conversation which Orta and Angus Kinnear, Leeds United’s director of football and managing director, continued through May and half of June. It was a risky process and not only because of the seven-figure salary on the table: weeks spent working on a contract which could have fallen down over technicalities or at the whim of the Football Association’s work permit panel.

 Andrea Radrizzani unveils Leeds United head coach Marcelo Bielsa.
Andrea Radrizzani unveils Leeds United head coach Marcelo Bielsa.
Stung twice by two fledgling managers last season, Radrizzani took the plunge and tried to punch above his weight. “The moment he asked to meet with me, I took the plane,” he says. “I went there and to see if we could get along well. He’s a very straightforward person and an ambitious manager, because he took a challenge that’s not easy. I was happy to see someone very meticulous with the job, a hard worker, big on the details. The real job starts tomorrow. We will see.”

It starts against Stoke City, Leeds’ first game of the new season, and Radrizzani is pleased to have a new hand on the tiller. In May, after the club finished 13th in the Championship, he decided that this season would not be left to Paul Heckingbottom, Bielsa’s predecessor, and sacked him after four months in the job. In trying to repair what he called the “mistake” of appointing Thomas Christiansen last summer, Radrizzani made another and wasted £500,000 by hurrying through Heckingbottom’s arrival from Barnsley in February. A decaying campaign died rapidly under Heckingbottom, with little in the way of optimism to cling to.

“Paul came in a difficult moment,” Radrizzani says. “We were losing game and points and getting a distance from the play-offs. I wanted to try to give a shock to the team and stay around the play-offs. It didn’t work but not all for his fault.

“I think Paul could have a good career as a manager because he’s direct, ambitious and motivated. Probably he needs more time to grow. But at this point we can’t wait for someone to come here and form himself, with all respect. It was the same with Thomas.”

Former Leeds boss Paul Heckingbottom, who Leeds sacked on June 1.

His remarks about Heckingbottom are not unlike the comments made about Christiansen when the Dane was dismissed and Bielsa - the exceptionally experienced, inspirational Argentinian - looks like the penny dropping at the third attempt. “When I decided to change Paul, I didn’t have any doubt that I wanted to have a manager with charisma and leadership which everybody else in the organisation would follow,” Radrizzani says.

So what target for Bielsa, considering that two managers paid with their jobs for the failings of last season? “Not to be sacked,” Radrizzani jokes. “But the reality is that if we are Leeds, we need to compete, which means in the top six teams at the end of the season.”

In their defence, Heckingbottom and Christiansen might ask what even a man with Bielsa’s reputation would have done with the squad they were given. Radrizzani concedes that the responsibility for last season “should be shared” and blame attached to recruitment. Leeds, he says, spent more than £20m on the players they signed, only to finish in the bottom half of the table and find themselves paying off or auctioning a number of them this summer. They are also redressing the mass signing of development-squad players which strained the wage bill further. Since May, a change of strategy at Elland Road has been obvious: not a single signing arriving from abroad and two - Barry Douglas and Patrick Bamford - who have torn up the Championship before. “We invested more than £20m on 13, 15 players and they didn’t achieve a good result,” Radrizzani says. “We had to change this.”

What didn’t change was the recruitment department itself. Orta, Leeds’ Spanish scouting chief, has become a lightning rod for criticism of mistakes in the transfer market, the point of blame for so many outside the club. Despite misplaced expenditure last season, Radrizzani was and still remains entirely supportive of him.

Derby County striker and Leeds United summer target Matej Vydra.

“Everybody can do mistakes in my organisation, including me,” Radrizzani says. “As far as they do their best and have passion, they are fine to learn from mistakes. Unless it’s his desire to leave, I will not have any doubt about that. I trust him and Angus. This summer has been more rational than the last one. We knew what we had to do.

“How much money lost last season? The frustration is a lot. But in the end I agree with Victor: they are not good or bad players. I can name someone like (Jay-Roy) Grot (now on loan with VVV Venlo in Holland). He’s a very good talent but he’s young and the jump to play in a stadium of 30,000 people every week is not easy to take. I hope a player like him can come back stronger and be part of the future.

“It was not wrong decisions in terms of picking bad players. Maybe we picked players who at the moment cannot be part of this project. The pressure is very high. We can’t wait 10 years.”

That urgency was shown in some of the players who Leeds went after in this transfer window. The club spoke at length with Abel Hernandez - a free agent after declining a new contract at Hull City - but could not afford financial demands which amounted to more than £100,000 a week all-in. Radrizzani says there were concerns about the Achilles injury Hernandez suffered last season and earlier this week, the Uruguayan signed for CSKA Moscow.

Marcelo Bielsa on the touchline for Leeds United's pre-season friendly at Forest Green.

Matej Vydra was next on the list as Leeds, in Radrizzani’s words, looked for “a striker with goals and proven experience in the Championship, and a striker who could be a sign of intent and ambition beside the manager.” Radrizzani says a fee was agreed with Derby County but that talks over personal terms came to nothing. Leeds, in any case, were not convinced that Vydra was as interested in the transfer as an alternative like Bamford. “No doubt Vydra is a great player but we want to have players who feel it’s special to wear the white jersey,” Radrizzani says. “He didn’t show it. He could think it but if he doesn’t show it with action, it’s difficult.”

More frustrating again was the failure to sign Florian Jozefzoon, the Dutch winger who left Brentford for Derby last month. “We received the contract from the club (Brentford) and we had written approval from the agent. Then, on the way to the medical check here, they change ideas and go to another club. Honestly, I’m happy he didn’t come here. Good luck to him but we don’t want people like this.”

The ability to approach players like Hernandez and Vydra was helped by an investment of around £10m made in Leeds by 49ers Enterprises, the investment branch of the San Francisco 49ers NFL Franchise. Radrizzani sold a 12 per cent stake in the club in return for that money, promising the cash would be directed into the first team.

At the time of his first investment in 2016, Radrizzani spoke of pursuing a five-year plan at Leeds: of buying back Elland Road, building a new training ground in the city centre and sticking with the project unless five years elapsed without promotion. Both he and the 49ers have denied that the recent investment could be the first step to a full buy-out - “the only reason someone would take over is because I’m failing,” Radrizzani says - but he learned a hard lesson in football club ownership last season, falling well short in the Championship and wading through various PR scrapes.

Is the same enthusiasm still there? “I’m more rational, a bit more nervous now, but I have faith,” he says. “I know it (promotion) will happen. I don’t know when, but it will happen.

“If I don’t go up after a few years then I’ll sell because it means my cycle is done and someone else should do it. It’s a loss-making league and it’s not fun to put money every year into a business that loses money.

“The club needs money always in this league. In the last 12 months we made a lot of investment in the first team and youth team but still we can’t reach break even in this upcoming season. We still need resources.”

No head coach at Leeds has ever cost more money than Bielsa, the highest paid manager in United’s history on a two-year contract worth more than £2m annually. Meticulous is the word most often used around Bielsa but the 63-year-old can be volatile and his last job, at Lille, was a costly experiment all round.

Radrizzani believes he can keep Bielsa happy. “We need to be honest with each other,” he says. “I’ve been honest about the financial need of the club from day one and the risk that we might consider selling one or two players. He’s been honest with me, asking for what he needs to deliver - certain kinds of players.

“The leader is an important role. Players are important but if you don’t have a good leader, you lose investment in the players. It (Bielsa’s salary) is not really a gamble. It’s a sign of ambition and stating our intent to play a role in the league.”

Bielsa’s appointment has created outward belief that Leeds will. So much of it often proves to be blind but no-one does faith like Leeds United and in that spirit, Radrizzani is hopeful. Leeds have signed five players, three on loan from the Premier League, and the Italian insists the “priorities have been accomplished” in the transfer market. “We maybe have one or two more positions where we need. It also depends on opportunities we have in the market.”

He is tired of being asked if this is the year and admits to feeling a touch of nerves with tomorrow’s game against Stoke approaching. “Last year I just felt excited.” But is he genuinely confident? “In everything I do,” he says. “If it doesn’t happen this year, it’ll be next year. Or the next one.”

Nøyaktig dette har bla hb sagt i årevis. Man skal ikke ansette trenere som kanskje kan bli noe. Men han har jo fått tyn av flere "orakler" om akkurat dette....nå som Rad sier nøyaktig det samme, så kan vi kanskje gi ham rett i dette? eller..?

Få som har vært uenig. Men meg med flere er villige til å gi han uerfarne en sjanse. Man ønsker jo at han lykkes eller?
 Fryktelig enkelt å si at dette er noe dritt og han er udugelig, om alle som blir ansatt. Selvfølgelig har man rett innimellom da.

Nå er Rads sjef og det er andre tider. Han har ambisjoner og økonomien blir stadig sterkere. Da vil selvfølgelig kvaliteten på ansettelsene også bli bedre.

Dette er vel 2 eller 3 gang i løpet av uka jeg ser " hva var det vi sa" kortet blir brukt.

Jeg bøyer meg i hatren.

Javel...det har ikke jeg fått med meg....mitt enkle poeng er jo at Rad sier nøyaktig det samme som Håkon og et par andre har sagt i årevis. Akkurat det synes jeg faktisk er litt interessant....

[Eriksen55]

Phil Hay i YEP

Exclusive interview: Leeds United chairman Andrea Radrizzani on Bielsa, transfers and the season ahead

Phil Hay
Published: 15:05 Saturday 04 August 2018
 Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani
Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani
Andrea Radrizzani and Victor Orta were in the back of a car discussing head coaches when Marcelo Bielsa’s name came up. A great idea, Orta said, but an impossible appointment in practice; too complicated, too expensive and no guarantee that Bielsa would even return their calls. “For me,” Radrizzani says, “that gave me more desire to make it possible.”


In no time, Bielsa replied and asked for a meeting. Radrizzani went first to Argentina, beginning a conversation which Orta and Angus Kinnear, Leeds United’s director of football and managing director, continued through May and half of June. It was a risky process and not only because of the seven-figure salary on the table: weeks spent working on a contract which could have fallen down over technicalities or at the whim of the Football Association’s work permit panel.

 Andrea Radrizzani unveils Leeds United head coach Marcelo Bielsa.
Andrea Radrizzani unveils Leeds United head coach Marcelo Bielsa.
Stung twice by two fledgling managers last season, Radrizzani took the plunge and tried to punch above his weight. “The moment he asked to meet with me, I took the plane,” he says. “I went there and to see if we could get along well. He’s a very straightforward person and an ambitious manager, because he took a challenge that’s not easy. I was happy to see someone very meticulous with the job, a hard worker, big on the details. The real job starts tomorrow. We will see.”

It starts against Stoke City, Leeds’ first game of the new season, and Radrizzani is pleased to have a new hand on the tiller. In May, after the club finished 13th in the Championship, he decided that this season would not be left to Paul Heckingbottom, Bielsa’s predecessor, and sacked him after four months in the job. In trying to repair what he called the “mistake” of appointing Thomas Christiansen last summer, Radrizzani made another and wasted £500,000 by hurrying through Heckingbottom’s arrival from Barnsley in February. A decaying campaign died rapidly under Heckingbottom, with little in the way of optimism to cling to.

“Paul came in a difficult moment,” Radrizzani says. “We were losing game and points and getting a distance from the play-offs. I wanted to try to give a shock to the team and stay around the play-offs. It didn’t work but not all for his fault.

“I think Paul could have a good career as a manager because he’s direct, ambitious and motivated. Probably he needs more time to grow. But at this point we can’t wait for someone to come here and form himself, with all respect. It was the same with Thomas.”

Former Leeds boss Paul Heckingbottom, who Leeds sacked on June 1.

His remarks about Heckingbottom are not unlike the comments made about Christiansen when the Dane was dismissed and Bielsa - the exceptionally experienced, inspirational Argentinian - looks like the penny dropping at the third attempt. “When I decided to change Paul, I didn’t have any doubt that I wanted to have a manager with charisma and leadership which everybody else in the organisation would follow,” Radrizzani says.

So what target for Bielsa, considering that two managers paid with their jobs for the failings of last season? “Not to be sacked,” Radrizzani jokes. “But the reality is that if we are Leeds, we need to compete, which means in the top six teams at the end of the season.”

In their defence, Heckingbottom and Christiansen might ask what even a man with Bielsa’s reputation would have done with the squad they were given. Radrizzani concedes that the responsibility for last season “should be shared” and blame attached to recruitment. Leeds, he says, spent more than £20m on the players they signed, only to finish in the bottom half of the table and find themselves paying off or auctioning a number of them this summer. They are also redressing the mass signing of development-squad players which strained the wage bill further. Since May, a change of strategy at Elland Road has been obvious: not a single signing arriving from abroad and two - Barry Douglas and Patrick Bamford - who have torn up the Championship before. “We invested more than £20m on 13, 15 players and they didn’t achieve a good result,” Radrizzani says. “We had to change this.”

What didn’t change was the recruitment department itself. Orta, Leeds’ Spanish scouting chief, has become a lightning rod for criticism of mistakes in the transfer market, the point of blame for so many outside the club. Despite misplaced expenditure last season, Radrizzani was and still remains entirely supportive of him.

Derby County striker and Leeds United summer target Matej Vydra.

“Everybody can do mistakes in my organisation, including me,” Radrizzani says. “As far as they do their best and have passion, they are fine to learn from mistakes. Unless it’s his desire to leave, I will not have any doubt about that. I trust him and Angus. This summer has been more rational than the last one. We knew what we had to do.

“How much money lost last season? The frustration is a lot. But in the end I agree with Victor: they are not good or bad players. I can name someone like (Jay-Roy) Grot (now on loan with VVV Venlo in Holland). He’s a very good talent but he’s young and the jump to play in a stadium of 30,000 people every week is not easy to take. I hope a player like him can come back stronger and be part of the future.

“It was not wrong decisions in terms of picking bad players. Maybe we picked players who at the moment cannot be part of this project. The pressure is very high. We can’t wait 10 years.”

That urgency was shown in some of the players who Leeds went after in this transfer window. The club spoke at length with Abel Hernandez - a free agent after declining a new contract at Hull City - but could not afford financial demands which amounted to more than £100,000 a week all-in. Radrizzani says there were concerns about the Achilles injury Hernandez suffered last season and earlier this week, the Uruguayan signed for CSKA Moscow.

Marcelo Bielsa on the touchline for Leeds United's pre-season friendly at Forest Green.

Matej Vydra was next on the list as Leeds, in Radrizzani’s words, looked for “a striker with goals and proven experience in the Championship, and a striker who could be a sign of intent and ambition beside the manager.” Radrizzani says a fee was agreed with Derby County but that talks over personal terms came to nothing. Leeds, in any case, were not convinced that Vydra was as interested in the transfer as an alternative like Bamford. “No doubt Vydra is a great player but we want to have players who feel it’s special to wear the white jersey,” Radrizzani says. “He didn’t show it. He could think it but if he doesn’t show it with action, it’s difficult.”

More frustrating again was the failure to sign Florian Jozefzoon, the Dutch winger who left Brentford for Derby last month. “We received the contract from the club (Brentford) and we had written approval from the agent. Then, on the way to the medical check here, they change ideas and go to another club. Honestly, I’m happy he didn’t come here. Good luck to him but we don’t want people like this.”

The ability to approach players like Hernandez and Vydra was helped by an investment of around £10m made in Leeds by 49ers Enterprises, the investment branch of the San Francisco 49ers NFL Franchise. Radrizzani sold a 12 per cent stake in the club in return for that money, promising the cash would be directed into the first team.

At the time of his first investment in 2016, Radrizzani spoke of pursuing a five-year plan at Leeds: of buying back Elland Road, building a new training ground in the city centre and sticking with the project unless five years elapsed without promotion. Both he and the 49ers have denied that the recent investment could be the first step to a full buy-out - “the only reason someone would take over is because I’m failing,” Radrizzani says - but he learned a hard lesson in football club ownership last season, falling well short in the Championship and wading through various PR scrapes.

Is the same enthusiasm still there? “I’m more rational, a bit more nervous now, but I have faith,” he says. “I know it (promotion) will happen. I don’t know when, but it will happen.

“If I don’t go up after a few years then I’ll sell because it means my cycle is done and someone else should do it. It’s a loss-making league and it’s not fun to put money every year into a business that loses money.

“The club needs money always in this league. In the last 12 months we made a lot of investment in the first team and youth team but still we can’t reach break even in this upcoming season. We still need resources.”

No head coach at Leeds has ever cost more money than Bielsa, the highest paid manager in United’s history on a two-year contract worth more than £2m annually. Meticulous is the word most often used around Bielsa but the 63-year-old can be volatile and his last job, at Lille, was a costly experiment all round.

Radrizzani believes he can keep Bielsa happy. “We need to be honest with each other,” he says. “I’ve been honest about the financial need of the club from day one and the risk that we might consider selling one or two players. He’s been honest with me, asking for what he needs to deliver - certain kinds of players.

“The leader is an important role. Players are important but if you don’t have a good leader, you lose investment in the players. It (Bielsa’s salary) is not really a gamble. It’s a sign of ambition and stating our intent to play a role in the league.”

Bielsa’s appointment has created outward belief that Leeds will. So much of it often proves to be blind but no-one does faith like Leeds United and in that spirit, Radrizzani is hopeful. Leeds have signed five players, three on loan from the Premier League, and the Italian insists the “priorities have been accomplished” in the transfer market. “We maybe have one or two more positions where we need. It also depends on opportunities we have in the market.”

He is tired of being asked if this is the year and admits to feeling a touch of nerves with tomorrow’s game against Stoke approaching. “Last year I just felt excited.” But is he genuinely confident? “In everything I do,” he says. “If it doesn’t happen this year, it’ll be next year. Or the next one.”

Nøyaktig dette har bla hb sagt i årevis. Man skal ikke ansette trenere som kanskje kan bli noe. Men han har jo fått tyn av flere "orakler" om akkurat dette....nå som Rad sier nøyaktig det samme, så kan vi kanskje gi ham rett i dette? eller..?

Få som har vært uenig. Men meg med flere er villige til å gi han uerfarne en sjanse. Man ønsker jo at han lykkes eller?
 Fryktelig enkelt å si at dette er noe dritt og han er udugelig, om alle som blir ansatt. Selvfølgelig har man rett innimellom da.

Nå er Rads sjef og det er andre tider. Han har ambisjoner og økonomien blir stadig sterkere. Da vil selvfølgelig kvaliteten på ansettelsene også bli bedre.

Dette er vel 2 eller 3 gang i løpet av uka jeg ser " hva var det vi sa" kortet blir brukt.

Jeg bøyer meg i hatren.

Javel...det har ikke jeg fått med meg....mitt enkle poeng er jo at Rad sier nøyaktig det samme som Håkon og et par andre har sagt i årevis. Akkurat det synes jeg faktisk er litt interessant....

Da kan du sjekke hva du selv har skrevet siste uka 

Vent til vi ser hvordan den meriterte treneren gjør det først nå. Går det til helvete så er ikke det fasit heller.Men ja, alle vil vel ha en type med meritter. Vidt meg bekjent har ingen sagt noe annet. Ã… støtte Hock, TC eller PH er vel helt greit når dem først er ansatt.

En kjent meritert har kanskje ikke vært så lett å få til å signere i all galskapen som har vært i klubben. Da må man støtte å og håpe på det beste med det man har!

[h.b]

Liker ikke dette her.
Radrizzani has claimed that he had little option but to cash in on the England youth international.
“I’m not stupid, I don’t want to lose money and I know I could sell for more next year, but the club unfortunately needs to have some injection,” he told the Yorkshire Evening Post.

Det betyr enkelt og greit at det ikke er penger nok til å forsterke med kjøp av spillere, og det er bekymringsfullt med tanke på 49`rs inntog og hans lovnader om at det var penger til nye spillere
https://thisisfutbol.com/2018/08/blogs/leeds-fans-react-to-radrizzani-admission-on-vieira/

[leedslife]

Liker ikke dette her.
Radrizzani has claimed that he had little option but to cash in on the England youth international.
“I’m not stupid, I don’t want to lose money and I know I could sell for more next year, but the club unfortunately needs to have some injection,” he told the Yorkshire Evening Post.

Det betyr enkelt og greit at det ikke er penger nok til å forsterke med kjøp av spillere, og det er bekymringsfullt med tanke på 49`rs inntog og hans lovnader om at det var penger til nye spillere
https://thisisfutbol.com/2018/08/blogs/leeds-fans-react-to-radrizzani-admission-on-vieira/

Helt ærlig. Er det egentlig overraskende?

[h.b]

Liker ikke dette her.
Radrizzani has claimed that he had little option but to cash in on the England youth international.
“I’m not stupid, I don’t want to lose money and I know I could sell for more next year, but the club unfortunately needs to have some injection,” he told the Yorkshire Evening Post.

Det betyr enkelt og greit at det ikke er penger nok til å forsterke med kjøp av spillere, og det er bekymringsfullt med tanke på 49`rs inntog og hans lovnader om at det var penger til nye spillere
https://thisisfutbol.com/2018/08/blogs/leeds-fans-react-to-radrizzani-admission-on-vieira/

Helt ærlig. Er det egentlig overraskende?

Tja. Egentlig ikke, med tanker å at vi er blitt holdt for narr de siste 20 årene. Raddikken har vel brukt opp penga på noe helt annet da

[Promotion 2010]

Liker ikke dette her.
Radrizzani has claimed that he had little option but to cash in on the England youth international.
“I’m not stupid, I don’t want to lose money and I know I could sell for more next year, but the club unfortunately needs to have some injection,” he told the Yorkshire Evening Post.

Det betyr enkelt og greit at det ikke er penger nok til å forsterke med kjøp av spillere, og det er bekymringsfullt med tanke på 49`rs inntog og hans lovnader om at det var penger til nye spillere
https://thisisfutbol.com/2018/08/blogs/leeds-fans-react-to-radrizzani-admission-on-vieira/

Helt ærlig. Er det egentlig overraskende?

Tja. Egentlig ikke, med tanker å at vi er blitt holdt for narr de siste 20 årene. Raddikken har vel brukt opp penga på noe helt annet da

Jaaaa, han har gjort klubben stabil på mange områder!

• Svært aktiv i kommunen = flere tilskuere og mer salg av utstyr
• Pusset opp Elland Road og skapt matchdays til å bli en opplevelse = flere tilskuere og mer salg av utstyr
• Pusset opp Elland Road Superstore og lagt til to nye butikker = flere tilskuere og mer salg av utstyr
• Investert tungt i spillergruppen, både ungdoms- og A-laget = flere tilskuere og mer salg av utstyr
• Skaffet oss en av verdens beste trenere og en skaper av en vinnerkultur i klubben = flere tilskuere og mer salg av utstyr
• Utviklet organisasjonen med enormt mange ansettelser for at klubben kan møte PL godt forberedt =
flere tilskuere og mer salg av utstyr

Under hvert av disse punktene ligger det mye penger!

[h.b]

Liker ikke dette her.
Radrizzani has claimed that he had little option but to cash in on the England youth international.
“I’m not stupid, I don’t want to lose money and I know I could sell for more next year, but the club unfortunately needs to have some injection,” he told the Yorkshire Evening Post.

Det betyr enkelt og greit at det ikke er penger nok til å forsterke med kjøp av spillere, og det er bekymringsfullt med tanke på 49`rs inntog og hans lovnader om at det var penger til nye spillere
https://thisisfutbol.com/2018/08/blogs/leeds-fans-react-to-radrizzani-admission-on-vieira/

Helt ærlig. Er det egentlig overraskende?

Tja. Egentlig ikke, med tanker å at vi er blitt holdt for narr de siste 20 årene. Raddikken har vel brukt opp penga på noe helt annet da

Jaaaa, han har gjort klubben stabil på mange områder!

• Svært aktiv i kommunen = flere tilskuere og mer salg av utstyr
• Pusset opp Elland Road og skapt matchdays til å bli en opplevelse = flere tilskuere og mer salg av utstyr
• Pusset opp Elland Road Superstore og lagt til to nye butikker = flere tilskuere og mer salg av utstyr
• Investert tungt i spillergruppen, både ungdoms- og A-laget = flere tilskuere og mer salg av utstyr
• Skaffet oss en av verdens beste trenere og en skaper av en vinnerkultur i klubben = flere tilskuere og mer salg av utstyr
• Utviklet organisasjonen med enormt mange ansettelser for at klubben kan møte PL godt forberedt =
flere tilskuere og mer salg av utstyr

Under hvert av disse punktene ligger det mye penger!

Dette er utgifter til inntekts nærvær, og helt nødvendig, men man skal ikke bruke potten til nye spillere på dette

[Promotion 2010]

Liker ikke dette her.
Radrizzani has claimed that he had little option but to cash in on the England youth international.
“I’m not stupid, I don’t want to lose money and I know I could sell for more next year, but the club unfortunately needs to have some injection,” he told the Yorkshire Evening Post.

Det betyr enkelt og greit at det ikke er penger nok til å forsterke med kjøp av spillere, og det er bekymringsfullt med tanke på 49`rs inntog og hans lovnader om at det var penger til nye spillere
https://thisisfutbol.com/2018/08/blogs/leeds-fans-react-to-radrizzani-admission-on-vieira/

Helt ærlig. Er det egentlig overraskende?

Tja. Egentlig ikke, med tanker å at vi er blitt holdt for narr de siste 20 årene. Raddikken har vel brukt opp penga på noe helt annet da

Jaaaa, han har gjort klubben stabil på mange områder!

• Svært aktiv i kommunen = flere tilskuere og mer salg av utstyr
• Pusset opp Elland Road og skapt matchdays til å bli en opplevelse = flere tilskuere og mer salg av utstyr
• Pusset opp Elland Road Superstore og lagt til to nye butikker = flere tilskuere og mer salg av utstyr
• Investert tungt i spillergruppen, både ungdoms- og A-laget = flere tilskuere og mer salg av utstyr
• Skaffet oss en av verdens beste trenere og en skaper av en vinnerkultur i klubben = flere tilskuere og mer salg av utstyr
• Utviklet organisasjonen med enormt mange ansettelser for at klubben kan møte PL godt forberedt =
flere tilskuere og mer salg av utstyr

Under hvert av disse punktene ligger det mye penger!

Dette er utgifter til inntekts nærvær, og helt nødvendig, men man skal ikke bruke potten til nye spillere på dette

Alternativet, Håkon, er å lukke øya og håpe - som vi har gjort de siste 15 årene! Jeg mener at det Radz gjør et å skape en klubb med vinnerkultur og en forretningsidé som er stabil også i fremtiden! Akkurat det er veldig smart!

[Jon R]

Liker ikke dette her.
Radrizzani has claimed that he had little option but to cash in on the England youth international.
“I’m not stupid, I don’t want to lose money and I know I could sell for more next year, but the club unfortunately needs to have some injection,” he told the Yorkshire Evening Post.

Det betyr enkelt og greit at det ikke er penger nok til å forsterke med kjøp av spillere, og det er bekymringsfullt med tanke på 49`rs inntog og hans lovnader om at det var penger til nye spillere
https://thisisfutbol.com/2018/08/blogs/leeds-fans-react-to-radrizzani-admission-on-vieira/

Helt ærlig. Er det egentlig overraskende?

Tja. Egentlig ikke, med tanker å at vi er blitt holdt for narr de siste 20 årene. Raddikken har vel brukt opp penga på noe helt annet da

Jaaaa, han har gjort klubben stabil på mange områder!

• Svært aktiv i kommunen = flere tilskuere og mer salg av utstyr
• Pusset opp Elland Road og skapt matchdays til å bli en opplevelse = flere tilskuere og mer salg av utstyr
• Pusset opp Elland Road Superstore og lagt til to nye butikker = flere tilskuere og mer salg av utstyr
• Investert tungt i spillergruppen, både ungdoms- og A-laget = flere tilskuere og mer salg av utstyr
• Skaffet oss en av verdens beste trenere og en skaper av en vinnerkultur i klubben = flere tilskuere og mer salg av utstyr
• Utviklet organisasjonen med enormt mange ansettelser for at klubben kan møte PL godt forberedt =
flere tilskuere og mer salg av utstyr

Under hvert av disse punktene ligger det mye penger!

Ã…penbart masse utgifter på helt nødvendig restrukturering av klubben, allikevel burde Rad ha skjønt at den «forklaringen» om salget av Vieira ville virke som en rød klut på den mest kritiske delen av supporterne. Han forklarer heller ikke det som h.b og andre etterspør: Hvor har store deler av transfermidlene blitt av?

Radrizzani er fortsatt en mediakløne, han har ennå ikke lært seg hvordan mange supportere tenker, særlig alle de som legger ut store summer på å følge klubben, år etter år.