Ex-Leeds player makes shock potential next manager claim if Bielsa leaves

An ex-Leeds United player makes a shock potential next manager claim, but only if Marcelo Bielsa leaves the Elland Road outfit.

Bielsa’s contract at the club will expire at the end of the season, and that is when he’ll wait before entering discussions. So it’s no wonder why all eyes are on the ongoing situation.

This has been a normal approach during his tenure, however that hasn’t stopped one former Whites player from suggesting who should take over if he departs.

Sam Allardyce could be a good successor this summer according to Carlton Palmer as he spoke with FootballFanCast.

Odd considering Leeds are on the up in the Premier League and looking to improve, yet Big Sam looks set to stay with the Baggies in the Championship next season.

“If [Bielsa] does go, you know, there are plenty of good managers out there,” Palmer told FootballFanCast as the ex-Leeds player makes a shock bizarre potential next manager claim if Bielsa leaves – saying he would leave for Spurs.

“I think West Brom are going to go down now, so Sam Allardyce, if they don’t give him the funds to do the job to get them back up, he’s going to become available. He might be a good bet for them.

“So you can’t automatically assume that Leeds are going to get relegated if Bielsa leaves, but you can’t also underestimate the job he’s done with that squad of players and the way that they play.”

MOTLeedsNews have hit back at his bizarre suggestions: “Firstly, we fully expect Bielsa to be in charge next season. The fact he signs a one-year contract every summer is bound to lead to this stupid kind of speculation but everyone at Leeds knows what Bielsa is like when it comes to his deal.

“Secondly, Allardyce? What on earth?

“While Big Sam has done a decent job at The Hawthorns as of late with West Brom delaying their inevitable relegation for several weeks, going to him from Bielsa would be one massive culture shock for Leeds’ players.

“Does Palmer not think things through before he says them?

“Imagine going from the full-throttle, attack-minded approach of Bielsa to the more pragmatic style of Big Sam. Imagine how tough it will be for players to make that change.

“Leeds have huge aspirations of reaching Europe so if Bielsa does go (and that’s a big if), they’re bound to go with a forward-thinking manager who has huge dreams of his own.

“Not someone who’s known for taking charge of relegation-threatetend clubs.”

🗣”Any reference to the subject I prefer to make after the competition is finished.”

Leeds United boss Marcelo Bielsa refused to be drawn into questions about his future at the club beyond this season pic.twitter.com/bBqYVlFe6x

— Football Daily (@footballdaily) April 29, 2021

BIELSA ON HIS FUTURE:

“Any reference to this subject, I prefer to make it after the competition has finished,” Bielsa reaffirmed.

“I appreciate the words of the owner, the president with regards to my possible continuity, but I also agree with what he said that Leeds’ prestige is above any other. Due to the solidness of this organisation, they have the facility to make adequate or correct decisions.”

Before stating this, Bielsa had rejected a report in the Argentine media that he was close to agreeing a two-year deal at Leeds.

“That information is not real,” he stated. “I ignore the origin. Those things, either the club can say it or I can say it, we are the ones who possess the information. Like in all cases, if there was any information to give, then I would give it.”

Why is Bielsa taking this stance?

That’s one for him to answer, however he makes it clear when he was asked about his future back in February why he is keeping quiet, in order for the question not to come up repeatedly during press conference during the run-in.

“I need to give you a complete response so we don’t have to talk about this subject too much,” he began.

“I don’t imagine for my professional future. Nothing better than what Leeds represent as a job.

“Given how the club is and the principles that they have. Due to the public, the stadium, the Premier League, the fans because due to the project the club is undertaking, due to the knowledge I have of the club and the people here, there is a lot of knowledge I have accumulated. I feel integrated to the city and also to this region in England and also what surrounds it, Yorkshire.

“I also value a lot the people that surround me and work for the club. I say this to justify, so I don’t appear someone who is predicting the future because all of the things I say now are true. Apart from that I would like to clear two things that are totally sincere. I would not like them to be interpreted as false modesty.

“I want to make it clear what false modesty is – it’s to say something so that the person listening thinks it’s something else.

“Firstly, I didn’t take Leeds to the Premier League. I manage in the Premier League thanks to Leeds.

“The second thing is absolutely true. Coaches who demand a lot are many, they are infinite. To have footballers who accept the high demands, there are very few. So the improvements that the Leeds United players have had has more to do with their capacity to adhere to this effort, rather than me.

“For me to give this response, it doesn’t have any speculation that benefits me, in fact it’s the opposite.

“I don’t manage any other option and I would not consider any alternatives until my job here at Leeds is done. I am not going to be in contact with anyone and nobody has offered me anything. It is the least I can do given how I have been treated by the president of the club.

“I understand that the club may have the needs to clear this up more quickly. I think it’s a normal, logical precaution that they need to take. That’s why I think it’s perfectly normal for them to have a list of candidates or alternatives.

“Although it has not been manifested publically, it’s normal for a club would react in this way. If the club needs an answer prior to the end of the season, I will respond in the anticipated manner. But I would like it to leave it clear that Leeds as a project surpasses me as a coach.

“Any coach would like to work at this club, given how it has been designed. There is still a dozen games left to play, a third of the season left. And the games always offer conclusions that help make the correct decisions.

“I always propose that all the games are finished, not for me, not for those that give me a job. Perhaps in the third of the season that’s left they could perhaps confirm that they want to continue with me, but it could also happen that they don’t, or perhaps they could doubt.

“So it’s not me who has an attitude of speculation against Leeds. It’s just a precaution that tends to favour the club and not me. I repeat – don’t listen to this answer as me predicting the future.

“The big coaches in the world, and I’m not saying this because I consider myself as one of them, any of them would love to work in an organisation like the one that Leeds have built.”

It was a lengthy answer, but in typical Bielsa style he checked all the boxes with that – when he wants to make a decision, why he feels he must wait and how that impacts the club.

WHAT RADRIZZANI SAYS:

“I hope and believe it is possible,” Andrea Radrizzani told L’Equipe when asked about a new deal.

“We are in discussions. There is a common will to keep going and so far we’ve always gotten along well.

“We support Marcelo in his work and I believe be able to say that he is satisfied with his relationship with the club’s management. Hopefully we can continue to work together.”

ANGUS KINNEAR ADDS:

“The challenge with Marcelo is that intentions are always a bit of a mystery because he’s always focused on the next game, you’re a brave man to try and distract him from the task of the next match,” chief executive Angus Kinnear told LeedsLive after promotion was secured in 2020.

“I think he’s fallen in love with the club, I think he’s committed to it. I actually think he was committed to the Championship.

“We hadn’t had a specific conversation but he’s been very, very focused on what we’ve done with the academy, getting that to Cat One status, he’s hugely focused on developing the younger players.

“If we hadn’t made it, it would probably have been the case that we’d be competing in the Championship with a younger squad and I think that challenge appealed to him.”

As ex-Leeds player Carlton Palmer makes a shock potential next manager claim if Bielsa leaves, can you see the Argentine boss leaving or staying this summer?