Andrea Radrizzani made a number of questionable decisions during his time as Leeds United chairman and one manager the Italian sacked feels he was hard done by, following his exit.
Radrizzani took full control of Leeds in the summer of 2017 and was forced to make a managerial change straight away. Garry Monk had left Elland Road after failing to get Leeds into the play-off positions.
Not many could have predicted Radrizzani’s choice of manager, though. In came former Barcelona player Thomas Christiansen after impressive spells with APOEL and AEK Larnaca in Cyprus, winning the league.
But Christiansen lasted only until February in his first full season despite having the likes of Kalvin Phillips, Pablo Hernandez and Kemar Roofe at his disposal. Christiansen was axed despite winning 15 of 35 games.
Thomas Christiansen spoke about his Leeds United exit in 2022
Speaking four years after Radrizzani relieved Christiansen of his Elland Road duties, the now-Panama boss feels the Italian owner’s decision to axe him was harsh. Especially, because he had a small-ish budget.
Christiansen was sacked with Leeds in tenth place with aims of the play-offs despite the Dane manager claiming Leeds only had the 12th-biggest budget in the Championship at the time. Leeds were punching.
Christiansen told the Coaches’ Voice: “We went unbeaten early, and gave everyone a positive feeling. Even talk of renewing and improving my contract. Good start increased pressure on us to achieve promotion.
“Without taking into account that we had the 12th-biggest budget. This prevented us from having players who could make a difference. When I was sacked, we were in 10th place, just seven points off the playoffs.
“It left me with a bitter taste that they hadn’t let me finish the season. I was convinced that we could have changed the trend of results, but these are decisions taken by the president and we have to accept that.”
What Andrea Radrizzani said about Christiansen after Leeds sack
While Christiansen chose to be the bigger man and not comment until four years after Radrizzani chose to sack him, the Italian typically tried to appease Leeds supporters by offering his verdict immediately.
Radrizzani often got it wrong in the public sphere but at the time, he was well-liked. He apologised for hiring Christiansen, quoted by BBC Sport at the time as saying Christiansen’s hiring was a “mistake”.
But if Christiansen was to be believed, The Dane was always fighting a losing battle. Trying to take Leeds to a place in the league that was just impossible given the lack of finances supplied by Radrizzani.
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