Javi Gracia, the manager of Leeds United, is about to be fired, and Sam Allardyce, a former England manager, is in discussions with the club to take his place.
Victor Orta, the club’s director of football, is reportedly also planning to quit on his own accord. Since the conclusion of the 2020–21 Premier League season, when his West Brom team was demoted from the top division for the first time in Allardyce’s career, the 68-year-old has been without a club.
With four games left in the season, Leeds are now 17th in the Premier League, only one goal ahead of the relegation zone. Gracia, who was named Jesse Marsch’s replacement in February, has disappointingly won only three of his first 11 league matches.
Leeds, which has dropped four of their last five games, will take on league-leading Manchester City on Saturday. With City and Newcastle up next, followed by trips to West Ham and Tottenham at Elland Road to close the season, Leeds may have the toughest schedule among the clubs fighting for survival.
They let up 23 goals past their net in April, the most by any top-flight team since Birmingham gave up 23 goals in April 1965, setting a Premier League record for a single month. The Leeds United Supporters Advisory Board expressed their lack of trust in the club’s management following Sunday’s 4-1 loss to Bournemouth.
The appointment of former head coach Marcelo Bielsa, who guided Leeds to promotion to the Premier League after a 16-year absence, was made possible by the hire of the Spaniard Orta, who was chosen by Leeds chairman Andrea Radrizzani in 2017.
After Bielsa was fired in February 2022, Radrizzani also hired Marsch, but even though the American kept Leeds in the top division on the final day of the season, he was fired in February.
