Leeds United

Andrea Radrizzani: 'I changed mind over Leeds United manager'

By Darren Plant, Senior Reporter | 08 February 2018

Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani says that he initially wanted to appoint a manager with more experience before approaching Paul Heckingbottom.

Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani has suggested that Paul Heckingbottom was not his initial choice to replace Thomas Christiansen at Elland Road.

On Sunday night, Leeds announced that they had parted company with Christiansen and Heckingbottom was brought in by the Yorkshire giants 48 hours later.

However, while praising the attributes of the former Barnsley boss, Radrizzani has indicated that he had intended to appoint a head coach with more experience after deciding to sack Christiansen.

Radrizzani told Sky Sports News: "We needed to have a coach with personality. For a moment I thought maybe I want someone with more experience, more seasons behind him, someone like a [Claudio] Ranieri kind of manager, but he's obviously busy in France.

"I felt the players are a little bit stressed when they go into games, and in the first phase of the game they concede so many chances to the opposing team it means something is wrong in their mentality and approach to the game.

"I wanted to bring experience to calm them, but then after I have seen Paul's background, I have been convinced this lack of experience can be compensated by his personality and motivation. He is very determined and has shown in his short career that he can lead and guide a team to performances and results, like he did in the first season at Barnsley and achieving promotion."

Heckingbottom was in charge of 108 games during two caretaker and one permanent spell at Oakwell.