Contact Me - What's New on the site - Leeds United news

Home Page for The Mighty Mighty Whites websiteRead about the history of Leeds United and football in LeedsRead season by season reviews of the fortunes of Leeds United and CityRead about some of the most memorable games in the history of Leeds United and CityRead about the men who have managed Leeds United and CityRead about the great players who have turned out for Leeds United and CityRead about the men who have led the boards of Leeds United and CityRead about the books written about Leeds United by the webmaster behind mightyleeds.co.uk
Miscellaneous
Where will Andrea Radrizzani rank? - March 2020

It seems with every passing tweet that Leeds chairman Andrea Radrizzani is becoming less and less popular among the Leeds United faithful. That said, one must be careful to separate the somewhat bizarre goings-on of Twitter and the way things actually are in real life.

There is every chance that Radrizzani falls into the 'is quite liked outside of Twitter category' but it would be foolish to think that every Elland Road match goer is a fan of the Italian. Still, now that Leeds are on the closing stretch of the 2019/2020 season and in with a real shot of automatic promotion to the Premier League, Radrizzani's legacy at Leeds will be under some scrutiny.

It's not that simple though as far as the Italian's legacy goes. Sure, should Leeds win promotion - that looks like a distinct possibility as the football betting odds favour Leeds at 4/7. Then, the 45-year-old will be looked back on as the chairman who was able to end the nightmare for the West Yorkshire side. But if they fail to do so, he won't necessarily be forgotten or resigned to the scrap heap of failed chairmen.

You have to remember that when Radrizzani became the majority shareholder after buying out Massimo Cellino, Leeds were in a truly awful way. Cellino had done so much damage to the club's reputation by hiring and then firing managers during his time as owner and that caused great unrest in the change room.

The club was in desperate need of stability and even if Radrizzani failed to do that immediately after he came in, given that he fired Thomas Christiansen and Paul Heckingbottom in his first year as owner, he has now had the same manager in charge for over 18 months. This leads us to the crucial difference Radrizzani has made.

Perhaps Radrizanni's greatest achievement at Leeds is the fact that he was able to convince Marcelo Bielsa to become Leeds United manager in the summer of 2018. Everything good that has happened at the club since then has been a byproduct of the Argentine's appointment and it's easy to forget that the Italian was the man to bring the feel-good factor back through Bielsa's genius. What one also mustn't forget is that Bielsa has made principled decisions throughout the course of his career and has walked away from many jobs after feeling like the relationship between himself and a chairman has broken down.

In some ways, Radrizzani deserves credit for keeping his word on everything that he has promised Marcelo Bielsa during his time at Leeds. Some may argue, that in actual fact, that is the least of what the Italian could have done but then they are forgetting that football is as much about business these days, with the stakes as high as ever, especially when chasing promotion. Holding your nerve during tough times takes a lot. Thankfully, there haven't been many many bad times with the 64-year-old in charge.

There's no getting away from the fact that there will always be an us-against-him type of mentality when it comes to the fans of any club and the chairman they have. Football fans are suspicious of anyone looking to make money out of them and will only give you their loyalty once trophies begin arriving.

Can Radrizzani be blamed for having one eye on the riches that promotion brings? It depends on who you speak to but for the price of promotion, surely the Italian is allowed to enjoy what he set out to do.

back to top