He kept talking a good game and we all loved his passion and positive attitude, but we all guessed that he wouldn’t last too much longer after winning only two of his last 17 games in the Premier League. Today the board announced that his time as head coach of Leeds United has come to an end.

The statement on the club’s official website says “Leeds United can confirm head coach Jesse Marsch has been relieved of his duties. Jesse joined the club in February 2022 and was instrumental in keeping the club in the Premier League on the final day of last season. Rene Maric, Cameron Toshack and Pierre Barrieu will also leave the club.”

“We would like to thank Jesse and his backroom staff for their efforts and wish them well for the future. The process of appointing a new head coach is underway and we will continue to keep supporters up to date throughout the coming days”.

Marsch came to Leeds with something of a mixed record as a coach. After a successful spell at New York Red Bulls he won two successive doubles at RB Salzburg, though it did help that they were by far the richest club in Austria at the time. That earned him the post at RB Leipzig, but he lasted only four months in that job before getting the boot.

Yet when Marcello Bielsa’s services were dispensed with, the board saw him as a good successor to the great man, one who would maintain the same high pressing style but with a more organised defence. But while he did manage to keep us up there are some who think our survival was more due to the failings of others rather than Marsch being “instrumental in keeping the club in the Premier League”.

He certainly inherited an injury hit and unbalanced squad, with too many wingers and not enough strikers, and the transfer window already closed. And in a few games he was let down by mistakes and ill discipline by individual players. But the four wins he achieved in his 12 games were against the bottom two and against Wolves and Brentford who finished the game with 10 and 9 players respectively.

But after the squad was reshaped a little in the summer things looked a little brighter as we started the season with two wins in the first three. And it should have been three out of three, but we allowed Southampton to come back from two down to earn a draw that may yet prove crucial at the end of the season.

We thought that after last season’s scare we wouldn’t allow ourselves to get into that position again, but after our heady start we began another slide down the table. A run of eight games without a win led to rampant speculation that Marsch’s job was on the line, but that unexpected win at Anfield saved him for the time being. And optimism was seeping back after our young guns were instrumental in our comeback in a roller-coaster of a game against Bournemouth.

And yet we slipped back into our old ways, with another run of seven games without a win either side of the World Cup. Before last weekend we thought things were looking up, having avoided FA Cup humiliation for once and advanced to the 5th round, and then made a clutch of new signings in the transfer window, as huge contrast to 12 months previously.

But how quickly everything deflated in the space of 90 minutes at the City Ground. Once again Leeds dominated possession, especially in the first half, but failed to capitalise. If Sinisterra hadn’t put our best chance over the bar things might have been different, but Marsch must be regretting his decision to needlessly send Rodrigo on at Accrington with that game already won, when our leading scorer picked up the injury that kept him out of the Forest game.

The 1-0 defeat was the final straw for a board that must have been spooked by Saturday’s results, as three of our rivals near the bottom picked up vital wins. With the takeover by the 49ers still being negotiated it is imperative that we keep our place in the Premier League, and the board decided it was time to act before it was too late.

Though Marsch enthused about our performances, he could never get the attack and defence to play well at the same time. We had games like Fulham at home and Spurs away when we conceded three or four goals, and no sooner had the defence been strengthened with the addition of Max Wöber, the forwards stopped scoring. With our lack of width his teams always seemed to struggle to break down sides who were content to get a lot of men behind the ball.

So what now? The club have announced that Michael Skubala, Paco Gallardo and Chris Armas will be taking training this week and will be in charge for our trip to play the biggest club in Trafford. So it doesn’t look like an immediate successor was lined up, but clearly the club will have to move to get someone in quickly, with two relegation six pointers to follow Sunday’s return game against you know who.

Carlos Corberan has been mentioned, as he was of course Bielsa’s assistant and would maintain the high tempo style. He took Huddersfield to the play-off final last team and has now guided West Brom to 6th place in the Championship. But we would have to enter negotiations with WBA for his release, and Corberan has already denied he is interested, though that might just be to placate his current employers.

We could make a quicker appointment if we moved for someone who isn’t already in a job, and Mauricio Pochettino would be my choice, if he could be persuaded to come. But therein lies the problem. The Bielsa connection might tempt him, but when he was linked with the Villa job in the autumn, the Evening Standard reported that he is in no rush to return to management and is holding out for a top-level job at a Champions League club.

Plenty of other names have been bandied about, but the Athletic’s Phil Hay thinks that Rayo Vallecano head coach Andoni Iraola is one option the club are considering. He played for Bielsa at Athletic Bilbao. His first coaching job at Cypriot club AEK Larnaca FC ended with the sack after six months, but he’s had more joy in Spain in charge of CD Mirandés and Rayo Vallecano, taking both to the Spanish cup semi-finals and the latter to promotion.

That said, I would prefer the club to appoint someone with more experience of either English football or one of the top leagues in Europe. Whoever takes charge will have to work with a squad that was not of their choosing, and the timing of Marsch’s sacking is odd, so soon after a busy transfer window when we brought in a number of players to suit his style.

But let’s hope that this time the board can get it right, and appoint someone who can not only keep us in the Premier League but take the club forward over the next few seasons.

Reuters

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