Former Middlesbrough and Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer has put forward a left-field shout for who Leeds United should pursue as their next manager – and his suggestion received a big thumbs up from former Whites forward Michael Bridges.
Leeds United need to consider their next course of action after Sam Allardyce failed to keep them in the Premier League in his four games in charge, and Bridges had been enthusiastically pushing forward Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou as a candidate for the job at Elland Road on the GegenPod Football Podcast.
Schwarzer made an alternative suggestion, however, pointing out that his former Australia teammate Kevin Muscat had done an excellent job since taking over from Postecoglou at Japanese side Yokohama F. Marinos, just as he had after succeeding the same man at Melbourne Victory after working as his assistant. After winning two league titles in Australia, Muscat led Yokohama to last year’s J-League title, with the club currently challenging for the title again as the competition approaches its halfway point.
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Schwarzer said: “Bridgey, I’m going to throw you a curveball: what about someone like Kevin Muscat? If you think about the impact Ange Postecoglou has had at Celtic, playing the style of football he’s played…Kevin Muscat has gone into Yokohama and done the same if not probably elevated them even a little bit more.
“Do you think he would be someone that could potentially go to Leeds and bring in the style of football that Leeds fans would really like, and do you think that’s even possible now they’re in the Championship?”
Bridges replied: “If I could get anybody it would be Ange Postecoglou … but what I like about what you suggested there is it [would be] a really interesting managerial appointment, because what [Muscat] has done is he has followed in Ange’s footsteps: Melbourne Victory and then gone on to do Yokohama Marinos. He’s also seen the style of play that Ange has liked and can adapt to, but I think Muscy’s put his own sprinkling on it and changed a few things up.
“If there’s anything that the fans of Leeds United love, they love somebody that’s a hard man. They’ve had Vinnie Jones there, they’ve had David Batty there. I’m sure Muscy with his past history in the English game and around the world with his tackles, that would spread, and I’m sure you’d get the players kicking a few on the field as well.
“So I like what you’ve said there. He’d have to go through the process and he’d have to impress everybody at the football club. I hadn’t even given that a thought until you mentioned it, but if that was the case I’d be all up for giving Kevin Muscat a glowing reference on that side of it, definitely.”
Schwarzer added: “I think he’d be Vincent Kompany-like: someone who’s been elsewhere, been successful, and could come into the English game as a manager for their first time and do a job, and I think Muscy could do a very very good job somewhere like Leeds United.”
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