Another watermelon that was ........ ‏

By Keith Ingham

After no wins in six Championship fixtures Darko Milanic went the way of his predecessor David Hockaday,  he was sacked. Much was said about Massimo Cellino before he actually took over at Leeds United FC. His record of sacking managers at his previous club was over thirty in twenty two years and we really shouldn't be surprised that happened.

After the disappointment that after ten points in four games under 'Redders' he was to be overlooked and left doing a commendable job with the youngsters at the club, his ambitions of taking over the duties of a club must have crossed the mind of the likeable man from Dewsbury. He was respected by players and supporters and the fear was another team would come along and offer him a 'top' job before Leeds sacked another 'coach' and we would loose him. There is little doubt he was the fans favourite for the job straight after the Hockaday dismissal.

Without doubt Darko Milanic had the experience in European leagues and major success with Mirabor but this is the Championship and it literally 'eats' managers by the plateful. This most competitive  of competition feasts on them, so far six have lost their jobs and Halloween has only just passed. A nightmare of a division.

That saying this job is already a hard one, getting Leeds back into the second tier was hard but achieving the larger goal of the Premiership has not been forthcoming with some of the most successful of managers. Neil Warnock was never going to be a favourite but nobody really can question his record when it comes to getting teams to the  promised land, it didn't work because the players he brought in weren't good enough to do the job and his tactics were outdated and the man who replaced him Brian McDermott was just the right man in a totally wrong time. The GFH fiasco was the thing that brought 'that nice man Brian' to his final, ultimate departure. I liked him even though most of his signings, like Warnock failed to live up to expectations. He was a good man in a cesspit of a sport.

You cannot and should not continue to hire and fire professional people on the whim of just one man. Let's hope Neil Redfearn at least gets till the New Year to prove his worth and hopefully take this once mighty club forward.

Good luck Neil, I fear you might need it.