At last the white smoke has appeared above Elland Road to announce the appointment of a new head coach, only two weeks after Andrea Radrizzani promised that he would have Jesse Marsch’s successor in place.

The last plan we had heard from the powers that be at the club was that in the wake of several failed attempts to land a more experienced coach, Michael Skubala could remain in his caretaker position till the end of the season, provided things went well in the two crucial games against Everton and Southampton. Presumably this was with a view to appointing our first choice target Andoni Iraola in the summer, as he would be out of contract by then.

But the dismal performance at Goodison Park and the unfavourable results elsewhere led to another swift change of heart, with the board swiftly realising we needed an experienced man at the helm before it was too late. Yesterday saw conflicting reports from different outlets, with the Express claiming that Rafa Benitez had been in touch, but the Star saying that he wasn’t interested in the Leeds job and wanted to manage West Ham.

But was actually happening was that Javi Gracia had come to Elland Road, and was impressing the club’s powers that be during an interview and presentation. The Spaniard outlined his assessment of where we’d been going wrong and how we can improve, together with an analysis of Southampton’s performance at Chelsea and how we can beat them.

And today Leeds United announced that he will become the head coach, subject to obtaining a work permit. The 52-year-old has agreed a “flexible contract” which initially will run until the end of the season, though it may well be extended if we avoid relegation. It helped that he was immediately available, having left his previous job at Qatari club Al Sadd in the summer.

There has been quite a bit of unfavourable comment on social media, mostly focused on his overall win rate of only 41% over his previous 12 jobs in management. But this included a spell at Valencia when they were in financial trouble, and several of his other stints were at clubs whose budgets were far from being the biggest in their leagues, the likes of Osasuna and Malaga in Spain, and Rubin Kasan in Russia.

Plus of course Watford, where his 20-month spell was his only previous job in English football. He joined the Hornets in January 2017 and kept them clear of the relegation places, before guiding them to 11th place and the FA Cup final in the following season. But he was dismissed after getting only one point from the first four games at the start of 2018/19, though many followers of the club thought this was harsh and that he would have turned their fortunes around given enough time.

Watford owner Gino Pozzo’s record in hiring and firing managers almost makes Massimo Cellino look like a beacon of stability, and it certainly can’t be said that his club’s fortunes have improved since Gracia left. In his autobiography, former Watford striker Troy Deeney described Gracia as savvy and “street smart” and also said “He had the experience to realise that in the situation we were in, midway through a season, he couldn’t do anything radical. But he made important improvements nonetheless.”

In the Athletic Phil Hay has described his tactical ideas as fairly typical for modern football, with plenty of high-intensity running and a high work rate, good levels of pressing and holding a relatively high line up the pitch. In other words a similar philosophy to the one Marcello Bielsa introduced to the club and which we tried to continue under Jesse Marsch. Presumably this is why the board sought him out, to provide some continuity with a style the players are used to.

After today’s news I feel a lot better about the direction of the club than I was two days ago, as Gracia is probably the best coach we could have realistically hoped to attract, in view of our position in the league and the failure to land any of Victor Orta’s other targets. So let’s hope that his ideas on beating Southampton work as well on the pitch as they did in his presentation, and that they prove to be the first step towards guiding Leeds to safety.

Photo: Action Images

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