Simon Jordan lays into Leeds United board as decisions…

Simon Jordan lays into Leeds United board as decisions picked apart in big Whites verdict

Simon Jordan believes the blame lies at boardroom level following Leeds United's relegation to the Championship. The Whites parted company with Jesse Marsch, Javi Gracia and sporting director Victor Orta in the final few months of the season - culminating in the end of their Premier League return.

When asked if the club had put too much faith in Orta, Jordan told talkSPORT: "Yes to some extent, but they've put too much trust in a variety of different places. If you've got an ownership model that's pulling one way and two people in the boardroom, one that's selling the football club on the basis it's staying in the Premier League and the new owner sitting waiting in the wings with a different viewpoint on things, that's why you've got people alleging that players were going to be sold by one part of the ownership with another part of the ownership model not wanting them to be sold.

"The RB model is great if you're playing in Austria of the German leagues that are not as competitive as the Premier League. It's not the same model that happens in the Premier League.

"To lift Jesse Marsch and drop him in, to exorcise the spirit of Marcelo Bielsa was a mistake. To stay with him longer than they should have done was a mistake.

"To not have any availability around and then start pinning tails on donkeys because they couldn't find anybody and Javi Gracia came in to fill a gap for a period of time. I was [surprised] and I wasn't because there wasn't anything around, there was two or three football clubs looking for managers at that time and they were having difficulty finding them.

"They can't find any candidates to come forward. Southampton were in the same space hence they ended up with Ruben Selles because they couldn't find anyone to take the job.

"I think there was an element of that going on at Leeds to some extent which is unbelievable for a Premier League jiob, but not withstanding it, it was the case. I thought he [Gracia] did okay and then of course no one can understand this, they are battering Crystal Palace in the first-half, Palace scored before half-time and Leeds just absolutely evaporated.

"From that point on, they lose five, they lose six, they lose four and it becomes a staple diet that he can't seem to unwind from."

The Whites conceded 78 goals in a dismal campaign - the worst out of any Premier League side. Jordan added: "They are [shocking] but if you look at Leeds' decision making, they've never replaced Kalvin Phillips, they never replaced an offensive option in Raphinha. Patrick Bamford at times this season, I thought was diabolical.

"Poor, not just penalty misses but in games where he didn't hold the line up, he didn't do his job. I don't know whether new contracts have effected his outcome because he got a new contract.

"He was back to the Patrick Bamford centre-forward that went around Palace and other football clubs because he couldn't get a proper gig, rather than the Patrick Bamford, a couple of years ago, that was scoring a lot of goals for them.

"All of that diminishes against the reality of decision making processes. What's the point in bringing Sam in to give him this unpalatable amount of money, £500,000 for four games and £3million for staying up, and give him four games, of which two of those are against Newcastle and Man City.

"It was never going to work. He needed six or eight games to have an effect so it's a silly set of decisions. They've wasted - two years ago Leeds, dirty Leeds of the 70s were everyone's second favourite side because of the brand of football and they've got this situation now where they've snatched defeat from the jaws of victory."

Simon Jordan lays into Leeds United board as decisions picked apart in big Whites verdict

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