LEEDS, England — “Leeds are falling apart again” sang the Tottenham fans in their corner of Elland Road. The Leeds United supporters at the other end of the stadium thought briefly about coming up with their own put down but instead joined in. Their team were falling apart and they couldn’t deny it.
In a game Leeds needed to win to stand any chance of staying up, they lost 4-1 with barely a flicker of fight.
The next time Leeds are here, they will be playing in the Championship, swapping fixtures with Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal for games against Plymouth Argyle and Rotherham United, and they only have themselves to blame.
After circling the drain a year ago and only surviving with a win over Brentford on the final day, this season has been one littered with mistakes on and off the pitch.
How was Jesse Marsch allowed to continue as manager until February? How was a club record fee squandered on Georginio Rutter in the January transfer window only for the striker to barely play? How do you manage to concede nearly 80 goals in a Premier League season? And how do you move from Marcelo Bielsa to Sam Allardyce — via Marsch and Javi Gracia — in little over a year?
Most of those questions are to be answered by owner Andrea Radrizzani, who has taken the club back to the division he found them in six years ago.
Supporters want him gone, and 49ers Enterprises, which owns 44% of the club, wants a full takeover, but the issue of who will be in charge of the boardroom next season is still up in the air. Allardyce said afterward that “it’s the first thing that needs to be sorted” this summer. Only then, he said, can a decision be made on who the manager will be and what the squad might look like. Allardyce hasn’t ruled out staying, although a record of four games, three defeats and 11 goals conceded hasn’t done him any favours.
