After two wins in 12 matches, Jesse Marsch was given the World Cup break by Leeds United to work with his team away in Spain. It was a mid-season break many clubs used as an opportunity to reset their coaching staff after challenging starts to the campaign.
Andrea Radrizzani stood by his head coach. The chairman then sanctioned an eight-figure swoop for his former Red Bull Salzburg defender Max Wober.
A club-record outlay beyond £30m would follow for forward Georginio Rutter. Now, the American’s compatriot, former right-hand man, teammate and friend has been signed up to Elland Road.
READ MORE: Leeds United transfer exit nearing completion after five-club battle for defender
Chris Armas’s appointment as assistant head coach is the latest, clearest show of faith in Marsch from the boardroom at Elland Road. Whether you are looking at the two league wins in 16 matches or the one loss in four, there is no denying fan calls for Marsch’s head only 12 days ago in Birmingham.
The combination of the dressing room’s angry response to a tale about revolt and this latest backing from the top of the club can only embolden Marsch. The American could not ask for a more stable internal environment in which to find a tune from this Leeds side.
United are doing everything but make a formal statement to show the head coach has their full backing. Coaching appointments, especially of professionals this familiar with the top boss, are not made without, at the very least, a medium-term outlook.
Radrizzani, Angus Kinnear, Paraag Marathe and the board must have total faith Marsch is turning this around imminently, or they are giving him until the latter part of this campaign at the earliest to turn draws and defeats into wins. Armas has been towards the top of Marsch’s backroom wish list since he arrived at Leeds.
His former Chicago Fire teammate turned him down in the summer. Armas would later tell The Crack Podcast: “Juan Mata’s telling the sporting director of Leeds, ‘Chris is an amazing coach, and a good person, hire him immediately.’
“They (Leeds) are telling me this. That’s the respect I know you earn. I had a chance to join Jesse Marsch and Leeds and I decided to come home.
“I made a decision with my family this was the best thing for us right now. I could have stayed over there. The next step for me is to be in MLS to be a head coach again.”
And yet, he’s now back in the UK and expected to be in the dugout at Accrington Stanley on Saturday. In January 2021, Marsch talked up Armas’s qualities ahead of a switch to Toronto.
“He’s equipped with a lot of things, he’s not raw, he’s not young, he’s not green, he’s ready,” he said. “He went through some tough times in New York, but he’ll have learned a lot from that and be ready to apply a lot of those successes and failures to what he does now in Toronto.”
He added: “He was my right-hand man, he was a big part of everything we did there (New York Red Bulls), from tactics to training preparation to individual relationships with guys. We both grew a lot in our time with the New York Red Bulls in our expertise and our idea in football.”
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