Leeds United’s incoming owners 49ers Enterprises continue to get their ducks in a row behind the scenes while they await EFL ratification of their takeover.
Club sources say a huge amount of work has gone on since majority owner Andrea Radrizzani reached an agreement with the investment group.
In that 16-day window takeover legalities have been worked on, new board members have been required to comply with the EFL’s Owners’ and Directors’ test, pre-season plans including friendlies have been lined up and 49ers Enterprises president Paraag Marathe has headed up a managerial search.
Marathe has framed the interview process in a similar way to his recruitment of San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan, who since 2017 have led the NFL franchise to a hat-trick of play-off runs, two divisional titles and an appearance at the Super Bowl.
The initial task was to run dozens of prospective candidates through the filter of demonstrated success – proof that the managers can do what it is they say they will do to bring success to Leeds United. The YEP understands data metrics relating to coaches who successfully led teams out of the Championship and into the Premier League over the past 20 years, and their traits as leaders, have been applied to try and find matches with candidates.
When Marathe appointed Lynch and Shanahan he was looking for leaders who could change and build culture, convince players to buy in to what they wanted to do and could boast experience of success in their work. A ‘succeed or die trying’ mentality has been highlighted as a key attribute.
Speaking in 2020 about the process to find and hire Shanahan, Marathe said: “We looked at certain things, identified certain traits and went through a process that were good indicators of success for a head coach – things like leadership, vision, personality.
“Then we interviewed and measured candidates [based] on those traits.”
To take the Leeds hunt forward, dossiers were created on more than 20 individuals and then 10 or so were interviewed initially on Zoom last week. This week has been taken up, almost in full, by a face-to-face interview schedule involving the final shortlist.
The process is coming to an end and Leeds believe they are closing in on an appointment but, as it stands, Marathe is still simply the vice chairman at Elland Road.
There is a feeling, among supporters, that it’s all taking too long and the release of next season’s fixtures only served to heighten that concern but the club view is that a meticulous process does not necessarily have to be a drawn out one. 49ers Enterprises do not believe that a body of work which began before relegation was confirmed has come at the sacrifice of time.
A change of ownership is close and that could come within days, which would in turn trigger the appointment of a new head coach. The feeling is that one will swiftly follow the other, but EFL approval and full ratification of the takeover must come first.
Players return for pre-season training on July 2 – with those involved in international competition this summer delaying their Thorp Arch comeback until July 10. By day one of pre-season, though, Leeds want to have a new name on the door to the chairman’s office at Elland Road and a new name on the door to the head coach’s office at Thorp Arch.
