Karl Robinson has shared his immediate reaction to Sam Allardyce telling him that he was taking the Leeds United job with four games to go this past season.
Robinson was speaking to talkSPORT following last week’s announcement that Sam Allardyce has indeed left Leeds after the Whites were relegated to the Championship.
Karl Robinson was part of the backroom team which went with Allardyce to Elland Road. Of course, he has previously managed in the Football League with the likes of MK Dons and Oxford United.
Robinson shares reaction when Allardyce got Leeds job
Unfortunately, the team were unable to rescue the sinking ship that was Leeds. Allardyce took one point from his four games in charge.
You do get the feeling that few managers, who were available, would have stood a much better chance of keeping Leeds up at that stage.
And that is perhaps reflected in how Robinson reacted when Allardyce asked him to come in at Leeds with him.
“I was playing golf and I got a phone call from the gaffer [Allardyce] to say what are you doing? I said I was playing golf,” he told talkSPORT.
“He said can you get yourself up to Leeds tonight. He said he was going in for the last four games of the season.
“I actually think I said ‘are you mad?’ He said get yourself up here tonight and we’ll have a conversation.
“I got in my car and drove to Yorkshire.”
The Allardyce appointment sums up how Leeds just appear to be drifting without any sort of direction right now. They have gone for different managers with very different ideas on how the game should be played. And they have expected that to deliver enough success to keep Leeds up.
Ultimately, it was not enough. And Leeds are continuing to search for the right figures to take them forward again.
The worry is that the new Championship season is just emerging on the horizon. Plenty of teams are getting stuck into the window and making moves.
Leeds meanwhile, have no director of football or manager.
So Robinson won’t be the only one to wonder if it is madness to go in at Leeds if given the chance.
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