The Musings Of A Newcomer

Hello all, been observing (and sometimes admiring) from afar and thought the time was right to join the conversation, as they say.

I should nail my colours to the mast straight away and say that it was 100% right to 'dispense' with Grayson et al. I'm sure, like most on here, there is no pleasure in sacking managers - we've done more than enough of that before - but it's absolutely clear that we were starting to go backwards. Now you can blame Bates all you want (and I'm definitely no advocate of his), but the art of management at any club - or indeed any business - is to get the most out of the available resources, irrespective of the level of financial backing. It is patently obvious that Grayson wasn't achieving this - I remain convinced that the team, individually and collectively, is better than the performances - and you could even argue that he never got the team playing to its full potential for any significant period of time during his tenure.

As for selling players, listening to the likes of Rosenior on the TV and to a lesser extent Dowie on the radio, you would think that every single player had been sold. It is worth remembering that Beckford and Gradel wanted to go, Johnson and Kilkenny were continually criticised as not good enough for Div 3, and Howson has only just gone, so not relevant to the current form. Obviously Bates has not been over generous in replacements, but the sheer number of loaness does suggest that, in all fairness, some backing has been given. What is clear is that he didn't trust Grayson's judgement - I cannot accept that so many players suddenly became bad the moment they joined Leeds - and no-one (and certainly not someone like Bates) is going to invest heavily in these circumstances. No doubt it was difficult for Grayson to work the market, but his record in buying/loaning players doesn't stand up to much scrutiny and in any case, it is not all about spending money - it does also has to be about the coaching, tactics and man-management, in which it seems Grayson was severely lacking.

Anyway, all yesterdays news to a point, but it's relevant when looking at the type of manager we should now be looking at. In my view, we desperately need a non-nonsense safe pair of hands to get us back to a solid football base - someone who can get the maximum from what we have, and who can convince Bates to invest at the right time (I know, I know...). Progress might have to be slow, but it would still be progress - we all know that we are a long way from Premiership (or old Div 1 as I prefer) standard.

In my opinion, the worst thing we can do is appoint a 'big name' or 'character' like the vile Warnock or Billy "I need more money" Davies - they would be a disaster long term. We should look at someone in the mould of Lambert, Adkins or Hill etc - not big names to start with but obviously with the right skills to build from within. Without jumping on the one-game bandwagon, Redfearn seems to fit this bill, so I would have no problem with him short-term, and I would also throw Freedman in as a possibility. Respected, level-headed and has had to work with talented youngsters at Palace.

One final point - at the risk of sounding old, I wasn't terribly proud of the exaggerated pressurising of the referee by the Leeds players on Sat, nor the refusal to be interviewed.

We are better than that.