Testing on day one of Leeds United’s pre-season will buy the club a little time if they continue to delay a head coach announcement. As it stands, 49ers Enterprises is waiting on EFL ratification of its takeover before unveiling its first major decision as majority shareholder at Elland Road.
Ideally, the incoming ownership group, fronted by chairman-elect Paraag Marathe, wants to see a clean break from Andrea Radrizzani’s tenure before setting out its own stall with a new head coach. Daniel Farke is widely expected to be the candidate appointed to the position.
However, with no sign of a green light from the league, pre-season and competitive football rapidly approaching, United may need to reassess their timeline. One saving grace which would buy them at least another day, if not two, will be the plan for the start of next week.
As those players who have had a full break since relegation return from their holidays, they will descend not on Thorp Arch, but Leeds Beckett University. As has become the norm in recent years, head of medicine and performance Rob Price will lead his team of backroom staff, as well as university technicians, through a series of tests and drills.
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In past summers there have been timed laps around the athletics track at the campus, reaction times measured, biomechanical analysis, strength tests and other medical assessments. In other words, footballs have not come out on day one in past pre-seasons.
There have been some players arriving on day two for tests like that in the past. They are not the kind of procedures a head coach needs to be around for, even if everyone, in an ideal world, might like to have the stability of someone in place.
While leadership from the likes of Price, sports scientist Tom Robinson and rehab and fitness conditioning coach Ruben Crespo, among others, can provide Leeds with a stay of execution, it’s only a brief reprieve. They are likely to need someone on the pitches at Thorp Arch guiding the players long before the end of the week.
