New Leeds director Paraag Marathe confident of success at Elland Road

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Leeds United have new links to the San Francisco 49ers.

Leeds United have today struck something of a partnership with NFL team San Francisco 49ers after selling a 10% stake to them.

The Whites endured a difficult first season under Andrea Radrizzani’s ownership, as they started well on the pitch but fell away under Thomas Christiansen, leading to his sacking in February.

Replacement Paul Heckingbottom has won just four of his 16 games in charge and is wholly unpopular with fans, whilst director of football Victor Orta has been slammed for a number of poor signings.

Off the pitch, a terrible re-brand of the club’s badge also rallied fans against Radrizzani, as did a bizarre decision to go on a post-season tour to Myanmar.

Now, Radrizzani has sold 10% of the club to 49ers Enterprises, striking a link between Leeds and one of the most prominent franchises in the National Football League.

The man at the head of the move is Paraag Marathe, the president of 49ers Enterprises and former president of the San Francsico 49er.

Marathe has been discussing the move with LUTV, and has noted that success in sport is not ‘rocket science’, suggesting he is confident that he can help bring success to Elland Road off the back of his operations with the 49ers.

“The San Francisco 49ers are one of the most prominent franchises in all of professional sports and certainly in the NFL,” said Marathe. “Similar to Leeds, we have a storied history with a lot of Hall of Fame players and we’re right in the middle of building a foundation and getting the 49ers back to where they belong, which is the top of the NFL. That’s why I see a lot of similarities to what is happening at Leeds, of getting back to where Leeds United belong. I’ve got to know Andrea over several years. It started out just sharing ideas and talking about what he does at Leeds and what I do at the 49ers.”

“There was a kinship there, a personal and professional kinship, and we thought there were a lot of things we could do to help each other. We started to dive in and get involved. There’s a lot of learning we do at the NFL that we can bring over to England. At the end of the day, this isn’t rocket science. Professional sport is professional sport. You’re trying to take smart ideas and apply them somewhere else and turn teams into winners,” he added.