The way Angus Kinnear describes it makes it sound like something close to the perfect team. Andrea Radrizzani and Victor Orta, he says, are an “over-index on Latin American and Hispanic passion”, while Kinnear sees himself as the “boring Anglo-Saxon” who balances out their temperament; a collection of “friends as well as colleagues” slotting together neatly. ADVERTISEMENT The quotes come from 2019 and an Amazon documentary about Leeds United that Kinnear swears he wanted no part of. Marcelo Bielsa was the star of it, albeit while keeping a million miles from the cameras, and the timing of its release with promotion bubbling away in the background achieved the improbable: portraying Leeds as a club who were getting their act together. Bielsa had it licked. The club’s board were sounding competent. Miracles do happen. Radrizzani, Orta and Kinnear were indeed a team; owner, director of football and chief executive, all of them aligned. There were additional players in the game too but from an operational sense and away from the dugout, that was where the power lay at Elland Road; where Leeds’ direction and strategy were decided. Orta and Kinnear were two of Radrizzani’s first appointments after his takeover in 2017. With the exception of a month after Orta left, they saw out almost six years together. Except, as is plainly apparent, the old bonds were no longer intact once the end drew nigh. please log in to view this image Radrizzani, Orta and Kinnear back in October 2017 before things soured (Harry Trump via Getty Images) That fact was amplified by Radrizzani’s tweeting and deleting on Friday evening; tweeting responses to a long interview conducted by Kinnear and then apparently deleting not only those tweets but his account entirely. The irony of his disappearance from Twitter is that there are plenty of people at Leeds who wanted him to deactivate from the platform a long time ago, leaving alone an outlet where he was prone to speaking in haste and stepping in it. Only now that he has gone from Elland Road, no longer an influence on day-to-day affairs, has his profile vanished. But not without making a point about why Leeds were so ready for fresh blood at the very top. please log in to view this image GO DEEPER Andrea Radrizzani and Leeds' relegation: His rise to power - and 49ers Enterprises' takeover Kinnear’s interview with The Square Ball podcast cast Leeds as a club who, as the Radrizzani era wore on and ran out of road, were no longer functional, or no longer functional enough to have much chance of clinging on in the Premier League. That Kinnear talked for almost two hours says everything about how much ground there was to cover in the failure of last season and the gathering doom from the summer of 2021 onwards. Even if one issue was bigger than most others, there was no single factor alone that explained why Leeds had gone down, no single point of failure. Kinnear was asked if Orta was the closest thing to it. “We look at these things collectively,” he replied. Which really, everyone should. And collectively this is how it looked, by Kinnear’s own admission. Player recruitment: wrong. Managerial hires after Bielsa: wrong. The timing of Jesse Marsch’s sacking in February: wrong. Waiting until this summer for ownership of Leeds to pass from Radrizzani to 49ers Enterprises: wrong. Radrizzani’s wealth vis-a-vis the outlandish amount of money needed to thrive or survive consistently in the Premier League: wrong. The structure of Leeds’ recruitment department: if not wrong then due a change, which came with Orta’s exit and the external appointments of Nick Hammond and Gretar Steinsson. By the time Orta stepped away, there was no longer alignment between him and other senior figures at Leeds. All that was left was Sam Allardyce and a flailing final round. please log in to view this image Orta makes sure Jesse Marsch gets his credit for keeping Leeds up in May 2022 (Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images) Radrizzani, it should be said, contested the claim that his wealth or access to cash had the limits indicated by Kinnear, saying Kinnear could not know “how much money I have or can invest in football”. That remark should not pass without pointing out that when an investment group involving Radrizzani arranged to buy Sampdoria over the summer, they mooted the idea of using Elland Road as collateral for a loan needed to fund the purchase. Leeds’ former owner bit back at criticism of the relegation release clauses that gave players an easy route out of Leeds in the recent transfer window, many of them on loan. He argued in a separate tweet that contracts were Kinnear’s responsibility, that overseeing contracts was what “management is paid for” and that he had never actually read the clauses himself. That last part was probably not the ‘gotcha’ he was looking for. Kinnear’s take on the loan clauses is that they were a product of an ownership setup led by Radrizzani that did not want to carry Premier League wages into the Championship — in essence, compensation for expecting players to take chunky cuts in wages after relegation. Orta is of the same view: however much criticism should be aimed at him for signings or managerial appointments, agreeing to allow players to leave on loan post-relegation was the only way of instigating salary reductions of up to 60 per cent. Kinnear thinks it will be different with 49ers Enterprises. He implied more than once that an earlier buyout of Radrizzani might have done Leeds a favour. In football club ownership, half of the battle is knowing when to get in and when to get out. The idea of Elland Road as bank loan collateral was a line in the sand for 49ers Enterprises. The fund had no idea about it and if there was any remaining thought that its takeover of Leeds would go ahead with Radrizzani retaining some form of influence or shareholding, the controversy over the stadium was a step too far. The buyout was agreed 11 days later. Radrizzani would leave in the wake of Orta cutting ties, the whole thing a busted flush. please log in to view this image The not-so dream team in April as things fell apart (Michael Steele via Getty Images) Kinnear remains in situ, his position consolidated by his work in ensuring that Radrizzani’s sale to 49ers Enterprises went through despite the complexity and tension of negotiations. He said in last week’s interview that, when it came to his own role as CEO, one relegation should “not be viewed as a terminal failure”. That might be a fair comment but it could also be pointed out that the same principle was not applied to Bielsa (even considering the differences between the job of a CEO and a head coach, and the reality of how tense the mood was in February 2022). Across the peak and the decline, there was arguably no bigger single point of failure than knowing what to do when Bielsa was sacked. As it is, life has gone full circle for many involved in the drama. Radrizzani is back in Italy. Orta is back at Seville. Bielsa is back in South America, back in coaching with Uruguay. The past week has made the tingling summer of 2019 feel incredibly distant, loaded with mea culpas and providing a definitive blueprint on how to get relegated. It is easier than ever to understand how and why it happened. please log in to view this image GO DEEPER How Marcelo Bielsa became manager of Uruguay, the team next door (Top photos: Getty Images)
I wonder if kinnear is just being kept on for this season only. Or was he the inside man for the 49ers last season so they owe him one. Who would not lose their job after overseeing the demise of the club. Leeds must owe a massive amount in transfer fees and that parachute money is spoken for. Byram was cheap and so were the loanees coming in.
The expected sour grapes from Hay and the Athletic for not giving Ornstein and Hay the interview. So not sure everything in this piece is rock solid but doesn’t start to show the cracks
I saw some stuff from companies house on another site. How true it is i don't know but the poster claimed it was up to date.
Rads is still listed. https://find-and-update.company-inf...cers/7rRUlfXOO7JQZjMquS6JZdqLozo/appointments
Let’s be honest. A relegation clause of a 50-60% reduction in wages coupled with relegation loan clauses was singly the most stupid decision the club could have made.
Radz is still the person registered as the one with significant control of Elland Road Limited and the 49ers have a legal charge over the Stadium. Not my area of expertise but apart from some reclassifying of shares from A to A1 not much seems to have changed. Accounts due on 30th June 2023 are overdue. It appears Radz is still majority owner of the stadium with between 50% and 75% of the shares but it would be nice if someone could dig a bit deeper to clarify the situation. The rent charged is fixed at £1.7M per year for 11 years with no agreement in place to renew the Lease by either party. Without seeing the Lease it's not exactly clear when the Lease commenced but probably in 2020 when the company was formed.
My understanding is that the 49ers didn’t do a full deal on ER as Radz was owed £25m from our last season in the Championship as he had to bankroll the club. He never took his £25m out in season 1 Prem because we needed cash for new players the idea was to take it season 2 Prem but because of the problems….. so I believe Radz will hand over the deeds when the 49ers have repaid the loan
As a matter of interest will I post Leeds related articles from the athletic as a regular thing. I might as well get some value from my subscription. I know Hays not some peoples cup of tea but thought it might be an extra area for discussion
I’ve noticed Hay seems a little more in favour by the 49ers than he was with Orta/Radz, he’s style has changed a bit (for the better) too.
It’s David Ornstein who has the links into the 49ers and Hay tends to be a contributor to Ornstein pieces when Leeds are mentioned. US based publication to the yanks know it more than The Telegraph. Athletic was ignored though last week as they used the square ball and they also sat down with the trust. We are still waiting the trust response who also had Kinnear for a Q&A for two hours on Wednesday.
Think what went wrong is pretty much there and a large number of fans could s e it unraveling at the time. Not sure what the trust can find out except plans going forward. In football that is pretty much pointless. You can put all the finance and directors etc in place but it guarantees nothing. It’s how the owners react when there are inevitable setbacks that will be crucial. That’s where other lot badly fell down
The trust thing is nothing mate, the format of the meeting went to plan and the trust have kept quiet about it because TSB interview has been all the talk this week. I would expect the trust to release something this weekend giving full details of the questions and answers
