Phil Hay says that Leeds were genuinely thinking about keeping Javi Gracia on next season at one point.
The Spanish manager signed what was described as a ‘flexible’ deal with Leeds United after the sacking of Jesse Marsch, and according to Hay, speaking on The Athletic Football Podcast, Leeds were thinking about keeping Gracia on for 2023/24.
Sadly, as we all know, things didn’t quite pan out for Gracia at Leeds after a disastrous final month at the club, and now, it’s up in the air who the manager will be next season.
Leeds wanted Gracia stay
Hay shared what he knows about Gracia and Leeds.
“They were never a team who wanted to be going down the route of Allardyce until the end of the season. It was partly down to this why Orta left last week, he wanted Gracia to stay, he thought Gracia would do the trick, but the board were unconvinced and decided to change. With Gracia there was a clause in his contract that he would be able to stay if they stayed up, it was mooted that he would have stayed next season had it gone well,” Hay said.
Wasn’t the right man
In a way, Leeds can count their blessings that Gracia failed so early on in his time at the club as it’s clear that he wasn’t the man for the job.
His tactics were turgid, the football was uninspiring, and, in the end, results went against him.
Even if he’d kept winning by the odd goal here or there, he would have only have been papering over the cracks and a departure would have been inevitable next season. Now, Leeds will have a fresh start in the summer, but whether that’s in the Premier League or the Championship remains to be seen.
