Jesse Marsch shares what Luke Ayling told him just hours before he was sacked by Leeds United

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Jesse Marsch is now approaching the one-year anniversary of his departure from Leeds United.

During the first few months following his exit, Marsch remained quiet on his time at the club, having been linked with numerous jobs including Southampton and Leicester City, both of whom were relegated alongside Leeds.

But in recent months, Marsch has shed more and more light into what went on at Elland Road, including a slight dig at former Andrea Radrizzani for his decision to fire him.

But speaking on an episode of the Michael Anthony show back in December, Marsch has opened up on some of the events of his final day in charge of the club, including a conversation with Luke Ayling.

Leeds had been beaten 1-0 by Nottingham Forest a day earlier to extend their run to just two wins in 17 Premier League matches. However, according to Marsch, Ayling, as well as the rest of the leadership, group, were still right behind him.

Marsch opens up on Ayling conversation

He said: “It’s funny, the day I got sacked I had a leadership council meeting with the leaders in the team and we were discussing a few different topics and Luke Ayling said to me, ‘Jesse, we just need to stay calm like when you came in last year, we have plenty of time, we’re in a good direction, we’ve got this’.

“I said to him literally that day I agree with you, but I think we have time, but I don’t know if I have time. Then that afternoon I was sacked.”

Forest was a game which summed up Marsch’s time pretty well. Leeds created and missed a number of chances on the day, but were beaten by a clinical finish from Brennan Johnson.

However, it was the second half performance that day which was a real worry. Leeds were awful and very quickly ran out of ideas, and that could be down to a drop in fitness levels from where they were under Marcelo Bielsa.

And following the penultimate game of the season at West Ham, which effectively sealed Leeds’ fate, Ayling himself admitted that the team’s fitness was just not good enough.

So although Ayling and the rest of the team may have been behind Marsch all the way, it was the right decision to sack him even after what followed.