After a tenure of three-hundred-and-fifty-three days, Leeds United have sacked Jesse Marsch. He is the seventh Premier League manager to lose their job in the 2022-23 season.
His termination comes with the team sitting seventeenth in the table and without a win in the league since a roller-coaster 4-3 win against Bournemouth on November fifth. The run of seven winless games has taken them from twelfth in the table to the current position of seventeenth, and that only on goal difference from fellow strugglers Everton.
A statement on the club website reads:
Leeds United can confirm head coach Jesse Marsch has been relieved of his duties.
Jesse joined the club in February 2022 and was instrumental in keeping the club in the Premier League on the final day of last season.
Rene Maric, Cameron Toshack and Pierre Barrieu will also leave the club.
We would like to thank Jesse and his backroom staff for their efforts and wish them well for the future.
The process of appointing a new head coach is underway and we will continue to keep supporters up to date throughout the coming days.
Following a narrow 1-0 loss at Nottingham Forest on Sunday Marsch spoke of a need to find ways to find ways to get results. His tone and demeanor were not indicative of someone who knew they were fighting for their immediate position. A Monday afternoon sacking after a seven game winless streak is suggestive of a board who looked at Everton’s victory against league leaders Arsenal, and decided they need a new manager bounce of their own.
At this point there is no replacement identified. This is a marked difference to Marsch replacement of previous manager Marcelo Bielsa. Then there were already substantial rumors about the clubs interest in the Badger State native.
With Leeds next two league matches both being against Manchester United, first away then at home, the new manager faces the prospect of taking over a club in the relegation zone. They will then have matches against fellow relegation battlers Everton and Southampton.
Results in those two games could very well be decisive in Leeds United’s survival.
Bielsa’s three-and-a-half year term brought promotion to the Premier League and also a sense of stability which the club had been missing for the previous ten years. The worry for fans will be that desperate desire to retain Premier League status will lead to another period where managers are replaced on regular basis.
The club have a stated desire for a long term replacement, not just someone to get them through to the end of the season. Of course, that was the intention last February when Marsch was appointed.
Who will they look to now?
During last years manager search Marsch was the favourite candidate, but interest was shown in Carlos Corberan. Rumors that he is still of interest have already arisen. There has to be a question as to whether he would want to leave West Bromwich Albion, who are challenging for promotion from the Championship, to take over one fighting against a return to the division.
A case for Leeds being aggressive in seeking to secure Corberan’s services is the three years he spent as Leeds under-23 Manager from 2017-20. With the transfer window closed the new manager will have no opportunity to parachute in playing talent and will have to work with the squad already there. Having someone who has recent knowledge and experience with the teams youth squad, and who led some of those players to victory in their Professional Development League, could be a distinct advantage in a grim battle for survival.
With just under half of the season still remaining Jesse is unlikely to be the last managerial sacking of the season. There have been three Premiership seasons where half of the twenty teams have changed manager (08/09, 13/14, 21/22), whether 22/23 joins them remains to be seen.