A new chief operating officer is expected at Leeds United with 49ers Enterprises looking to improve a management structure that they deemed unsuitable for the Premier League, according to Phil Hay.
The Athletic journalist reported on The Square Ball on 20 October that the incoming COO would join CEO Angus Kinnear as senior UK-based members of management, as part of a improvement process by the new regime.
The four-strong board at Elland Road is currently based primarily in America, while the 49ers weren’t apparently impressed by the structure at the club when they took over after relegation from the top flight.
Hay said (20m): “There’ll be a chief operating officer coming in at some point, just trying to broaden out the oversight of the business for the 49ers, who will be predominantly based in the States.
We know what the board is going to look like now, it’ll be Paraag Marathe as chairman and Rudy Cline-Thomas as vice-chair, then you’ve got Peter Lowy and Angus Kinnear. Kinnear is the only one who will be based in the UK full time. Somebody else gives a bit more oversight and on-the-ground feel of what’s going on.
“Despite three years in the Premier League, I don’t think the 49ers feel, in any way, that Leeds are set up as a Premier League club, or were at the point they bought them.
When it comes to personnel and management structure the 49ers feel it needs a lot of progressing.
Based on the chaos that ultimately enveloped Leeds United under Andrea Radrizzani’s ownership, once the huge influence of Marcelo Bielsa had gone, it is perhaps no surprise that the set up at the club has been criticised.
With so much hingeing on Victor Orta making the right decisions the club’s fortunes soared when he hit on the pursuit of the Argentine boss, and plummeted when his succession plan fell apart.
Daniel Farke as manager, Gretar Steinsson as technical director, and Nick Hammond as recruitment advisor, have so far done a strong job on the football side of things.
But with the 49ers having big plans more widely they look to be continuing to change the way the club is run, with a view to heading back to the Premier League and staying there.
It hasn’t been flawless by any means but so far the Americans have got off to a solid start in 100% control, so if they can back up their promises on the stadium development and further squad investment fans will likely be very satisfied.
The previous model appeared to work for a time despite itself thanks to Bielsa, but with it spectacularly falling apart last season all-round revamp sounds like a sensible objective.
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