Craig Burley has suggested that Sean Dyche could replace Jesse Marsch at Leeds United as the pressure continues to mount on the American at Elland Road, as the US TV pundit told ESPN.
Leeds suffered a 3-2 defeat to newly-promoted Fulham on Sunday, with Marsch getting booed by his own fans after the full-time whistle and Burley thinks the owners might be thinking about a change.
The former Scotland international pointed out that the Whites only returned to the Premier League, after a near-20-year wait, and they don’t want to head back to those dark days again.
Well, one thing is obvious, fans are frustrated, they are angry and they are questioning those running the club at the top and the man in their dugout.
In February, Marsch replaced the ever-popular Marcelo Bielsa and kept the team up on the last day of the season, but now things are turning for the worst, with no win since August.
Even though Leeds took the lead against Fulham, they still ended up on the losing side and deservedly so, as Burley claimed ‘Leeds fans won’t want to hear it’, but changing their style to bring in Dyche, in the short term, might just be the answer.
“I said it with Gerrard, you would like to see these guys given a bit more time and he’s no different,” said Burley.
“However, it would be super-fresh in the ownership’s minds that they have just spent, not too long ago, the best part of 20 years out of this division. It cost them financially unbelievably.
“He might have to change things up the way he plays to try and get a result, and if he doesn’t, then he will probably be out.
“I am wondering, it’s not what Leeds fans want to hear and it’s a completely different change of strategy, I am going to say someone like Sean Dyche because when you start to think about the hundreds of millions that you might lose with relegation and what that looks like.
“You then start to look around at people that could come in. How do we get points? How do we keep a clean sheet? How do we get organised? And all of a sudden, you chuck out the philosophy you have had to get a short-term resolution and that’s what Leeds might have to do, in the end.”
DYCHE’S APPEARANCE ON MNF
The 51-year-old was sacked by Burnley in April of last season, and despite that call, they still ended up getting relegated with Leeds staying up.
But could the Englishman be making a return to the dugout? Well, on Monday night, he was in the Sky Sports studios doing punditry work for West Ham’s 2-0 win over Bournemouth.
He hinted at a possible return by stating that it’s ‘always flattering’ to be linked with other jobs and ‘watch this space’, as quoted by The Daily Mail.
Well, would Leeds fans welcome Dyche if they were to sack Marsch? Probably not given that Aston Villa managed to secure the talents of Unai Emery after Steven Gerrard’s exit.
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