Has Simon Grayson achieved what he can at Leeds?

After we lost against Reading I started thinking about Simon Grayson’s future at Leeds, not that the 0-1 defeat was the worst of the season at all, but I just couldn’t help wondering if someone new at the helm is a necessity if we are to get promoted this season.

There are many reasons that I fear his time is coming to an end, one is that he’s got some mad defensive flaws, off course this is also the players fault, but the manager picks the team, so in the end it falls back on him. No matter how hard we try we can’t keep a clean sheet, in the 22 games played in the league so far, we have managed a not impressive four clean sheets, and some terrible defensive howlers along the way. You can’t guard against horror displays like the one Paul Rachubka showed against Blackpool, but fans are allowed to expect better from the so called star players like Paddy Kisnorbo, who I feel have been by far our most disappointing player this season (read: http://kimba1980.blogspot.com/2011/09/is-kisnorbo-playing-because-of.html - I wrote this in September and my opinion hasn’t changed since). Simon Grayson seems to be tactically clueless, if we need to change the game he sends on two/three subs around the 65^th minute and then he hopes that does the trick, he does change formation every now and then, but the difference between our classic 442 and our 451 isn’t really a game changer he uses in the middle of games when we are in trouble. 

Another reason that I think shows that Ken Bates is losing confidence in SG is transfer windows, we don’t seem to spend, and I know that people blame Bates and call him cheap, which he might be, but I also think that he has no faith in Simons ability to find us the right players, most of the things SG signs is free transfers, which offcourse still includes money for player and agent or bargains like Lloyd Sam and Andy Lonergan – I can’t see Bates giving Simon £4-5mill. or maybe even £2mill. for a player no matter how much SG believed he was the one. I know it’s easier for a fan to blame a chairman for not splashing the cash, but I think it runs deeper then KB being cheap, I truly believe that he won’t trust Simon to buy a player that can get us promoted.

So reading this it might seem that I agree with people saying that Simon should get the sack, but actually I don’t, I can’t see another manager doing better for Leeds with our current transfer money, wage policy and players available, and I’m not sure any other manager, that we as fans would want, would join Leeds under the “leadership” of Ken Bates. So I hope and pray that results turn for Simon and the lads and that Ken Bates will show more faith in Simon’s business skills in January – Naive, I know, but all we can do is hope!

One thing I would like to see if SG stays is for him to show less loyalty towards the sold called stars when they don’t perform, I think it’s a joke that Kisnorbo has been allowed to play for two-three months now, while going from bad to worse in most games – Being a more no-nonsense manager would probably show both players, fans and chairman that he is no “Ken Bates dummy” and give him more respect, a thing I feel every manager needs to succeed.