Leeds United were a side in transition under Garry Monk during the 2016/17 Sky Bet Championship campaign. That hard-earned 7th place that season was lost last season as a restructured side simply fell apart.
Monk chose to chase the dollar at Middlesbrough, admittedly after not being happy with what offer was put on the table at Elland Road. That brought Thomas Christiansen to the club, an appointment that was over early-February as a poor run of form brought down the axe with the Whites seven points shy of the play-offs.
United then went out and brought in Barnsley boss Paul Heckingbottom who was tasked with arresting an alarming slide in form. The long and the short of it is that he only managed four wins from his 16 games in charge, a return not satisfying a lot of Whites fans.
Mutterings have been quite vocal about Heckingbottom’s chances of remaining at Elland Road, many thinking that being relieved of his duty is a fait accompli. The Sun’s Alan Nixon (tweet and story below) certainly thinks that this is the case.
Nixon’s tweet alludes to Heckingbottom’s future not only hanging by the proverbial thread, but he also introduces an interesting other factor – “the experienced foreign maverick coach.” Nixon indicates that should the Whites be in a position to get this man in, Heckingbottom’s future would be decided rather than “still being reviewed.”
This snippet from The Sun’s chief football reporter coincides with reports from Italy, and publication Corriere di Bologna, that seem to link United to former Italy ace Filippo Inzaghi – currently manager of Serie B Venezia.
In a story about his wish to push Venezia through the Serie B play-offs, Corriere di Bologna say that the former Italy international “had received a request” from Leeds United – musings written about here yesterday on the72. At the head of this story was a tale of an ‘agreement’ reached between Inzaghi and Bologna, an agreement that is tangled to say the least.
Whatever the situation, whether Paul Heckingbottom starts the season out as Leeds United boss or not, one thing is certain at Elland Road. Should the former Barnsley boss start out with a bad August, Whites fans can expect a new face in sooner rather than later.
