Jesse Marsch had started to resemble a hill walker lacking a compass, map or mobile phone signal who finds himself stranded among unfamiliar and remote terrain as dusk descends. The last glimmer of light finally faded on his Elland Road tenure on Monday when he was sacked as Leeds’s manager 11 months after succeeding Marcelo Bielsa, but as early as New Year’s Eve the endgame had begun.
Leeds had just earned a hard-fought point at Newcastle, but it swiftly became clear all was far from well. “This job’s always stressful,” said a man whose team failed to win his final seven league games and are out of the relegation zone on goal difference.
