Phil Hay: ‘Internal chaos’ at Elland Rd as Leeds lose control amid transfer developments

Phil Hay admits Leeds United are in danger of losing control of the narrative at Elland Road as grumblings of discontent start to grow louder over a lack of new signings.

Over a month elapsed between the confirmation of Leeds’ relegation and the appointment of Daniel Farke as manager, who was brought in just in time for pre-season training to start at Thorp Arch.

49ers Enterprises are yet to have their takeover signed off by the EFL and despite a host of players leaving permanently or on loan, Leeds haven’t made a single first-team signing.

Lewis Pirie, a 16-year-old striker from Aberdeen, remains the club’s only new addition this summer and The Athletic journalist Hay believes Leeds need to wrestle back control by starting to make some moves.

Speaking on the latest episode of The Square Ball podcast on Friday (14 July, 11m46s on YouTube), Hay said: “While there have been plenty of outgoings and we’ve had more this week, as we speak, we’re still to see any more incoming.

“But yes, the delay in the takeover, absolutely [is a reason]. But also Leeds are suffering from what clubs always suffer from and the price they always have to pay when they get relegated, which causes a lot of flux, a fair amount of internal chaos and an awful lot of hard work.

“There’s no stable platform on which to build here.”

Hay added: “Whenever nothing moves, you’re always in danger of losing the narrative and when nothing moves, invariably you do lose the narrative.

“But you can regain it fairly quickly if you do start to look active and do start to make things happen.”

Leeds really need to get a jog on to complete new signings before the Championship season kicks off.

Farke will take charge of his first competitive game as Leeds manager against Cardiff on Sunday, 6 August.

That means there’s a little over three weeks left for the German to add to his squad in time for that game.

Of course, the transfer window doesn’t actually close until 1 September but Leeds will have played five or six games in both the Championship and Carabao Cup by that point.

And on top of that, a number of players have been moved on already this summer so it’s hard to see what the hold- really is unless Nick Hammond, Angus Kinnear and Farke are having a hard time agreeing on targets.

It’s all a bit of a mess and Hay is probably understating it by saying there’s only a “fair amount” of internal chaos to be expected after a club is relegated.

Leeds are sleepwalking through the summer so far, waiting on a takeover to be finalised when that’s not even in their hands.