Home » Teams » Leeds United » Forget It Leeds – Why This Spaniard Is Not The Right Man To Lead The Club

Forget It Leeds – Why This Spaniard Is Not The Right Man To Lead The Club

Victor Sanchez

Why Victor Sanchez Is Not The Man For Leeds United

Unfortunately for Leeds United’s loyal and sizeable support, the end of the Massimo Cellino era and the beginning of Andrea Radrizzanido’s does not seem to have brought good news.

Charlie Taylor still wants away, top players’ loans have ended and Garry Monk – the manager who led Leeds to their best league season in a decade, has resigned. Budget concerns abound and now top managerial candidates appear to be favouring jobs elsewhere, despite the club’s history.

According to SkyBet, Spanish coach Victor Sanchez is the new favourite to take the reins at Elland Road, nudging out Alan Pardew, Quique Sanchez Florez and Pep Clotet. Overall, it’s more of a rogue’s gallery than a fashion parade of managerial talent, and it’s something that has got Leeds fans more than a little concerned.

As a player, there is no doubting Sanchez’s pedigree. While at Real Madrid, the ex-midfielder and Spanish international won the Champions League and La Liga in 1998 and was one of the game’s most underrated talents. As a manager though, not so much.

At 41 years of age, he can still learn much as a coach. But his recent record doesn’t bode well. Real Betis dispensed Sanchez’s services after a run of six defeats on the trot – a sequence which left them hovering around the relegation zone. Back in 2016, he went the same way at Deportivo La Coruna and nothing in that profile suggests at all that he can take Leeds by the horns and drag them up the Championship.

The pattern at both clubs was broadly the same; Sanchez starts impressively results-wise as his high pressing game pays dividends, before form turns ugly and scorelines take a dive. Despite these less than impressive stints, the football world remembers him most for his very brief stay in Greece.

Having been appointed by now Nottingham Forest leader Evangelos Marinakis, Sanchez lasted less than two months in charge of Olympiakos. In fact, he took charge of just two games in Greece! I’m not here to smear anyone and it would be different if there were a chink of light shining through Sanchez’s managerial past. However, the fact is that his record is awful.

Potential is one thing, but Leeds need assurances from players and managers now before they descend into footballing obscurity forever. Let’s not talk about ‘sleeping giants’. These days football can claim these clubs for good and they can become dead giants. Leeds deserve better than this.