From Marcelo Bielsa to Sam Allardyce in 14 months, Leeds United seem to have orchestrated the most unwelcome makeover in footballing history. If their spell as the neutrals’ favourites has come to a definitive end, if they would trade an identity as cavaliers to preserve their Premier League status, a shift from purism to pragmatism is rarely as jarring.
The sacked manager Javi Gracia may go down as a forgettable figure in Leeds’ dramatic decline, the departed director of football Victor Orta a pivotal person in first the rise and then the fall. Allardyce will be the four-game gamble that either saves them or further damns this particular United. A fourth manager of a season that began with chairman Andrea Radrizzani branding relegation “impossible” may oversee a demotion that would have many architects.
