Leeds boss McDermott: I’ll break cycle of sacked managers

McDermott’s former club weakened his already fragile position with a 4-2 victory at Elland Road last night, punishing another spectacular collapse from United’s players.

Leeds compounded Saturday’s 5-1 loss to Bolton Wanderers with another woeful performance in the first hour, falling 4-0 behind and prompting chants of “you’re not fit to wear the shirt” from a crowd of just under 20,000.

McDermott has been in his post at Elland Road for less than 12 months and yesterday marked a year to the day since he was sacked by Reading – the club he led to the Championship title in 2012.

The 52-year-old – the ninth manager at Leeds since 2002 – said: “I’ve talked a bit about the last 10 years and the cycle of events here. I’m basically trying to break that cycle of events where you get another manager, it starts okay and then suddenly things aren’t going well.

“Then you get another manager, then another manager and that seems to be how it’s been over a period of time.

“That’s the cycle I would like to break.

“I’ve said that from the start and I understand it’s a results business we’re in, but it’s different here. We’ve had no stability over a long period of time. We’re in a difficult period which we need to get through.

“It would help if the manager knew about the ownership and who the owner was going to be – and if we could have conversations about that going into the summer. Of course that would be very, very helpful.”

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