Former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan has admitted he is surprised that Leeds United have been unable to kick on since promotion to the Premier League. The Whites ended their long wait for top-flight football back in 2020 after winning the Championship title at a canter under Marcelo Bielsa.
Leeds were then able to secure a ninth place finish in their first season back, but have endured nothing but struggles since then. After sacking Bielsa and hiring Jesse Marsch in March, Leeds secured their survival by the skin of their teeth with a dramatic final day win at Brentford.
Again, though, Leeds have been unable to build on that with the club failing to address certain areas of the squad during the summer. Speaking on talkSPORT, Jordan claimed that while the board are able to spend money 'how they want to', he cannot believe that they haven't kicked on from a financial point of view.
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He said: "You would expect, with the ownership model that's there - this guy that owns Leeds [ Radrizzani ] is as smart as paint. The American investment that has come in alongside him, you would expect them to have kicked on. A lot of people that I know are very big Leeds fans and one of them quite an influential Leeds fan, they thought Bielsa was done. It was necessity, not a popular necessity, but a necessary evil to serve a greater good.
"They were going to get relegated and had to make a change, they could have gone down nobly, and could've gone down listening to the fans singing Bielsa's name. They wouldn't have listened to the fans singing Bielsa's name, they would've listened to the fans screaming, crying, bitching and whining about getting relegated.
"That's what they're now beginning to sing now [sack the board], which is laughable. Sack the board and replace them with precisely whom? This is an enormous football club that was out of the Premier League, unbelievably, for 17 years. What is surprising is they haven't kicked on, they haven't pushed on in financial terms, and I am not suggesting they should do, because it's their money and they can spend it how they want to.
"But I would've anticipated that Leeds would've pushed on, they've lost some significant players, Bamford has become a bit-part player because of his injuries and when he is fit he makes a big difference. I don't think Leeds' results sometimes are reflective of their performances, but if you look at the results over the last four or five games, if this continues much longer, he's gone."
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