If Harry Redknapp sees himself as the answer for Leeds United, what the f*** is the question?

Harry Redknapp isn’t going to be the new Leeds manager, but his name even being mentioned is a reminder of their lack of plan for a post-Jesse Marsch world.

Coming on the morning after Neil Warnock was confirmed as the new manager of Huddersfield Town, it would appear that geriatric managers are particularly attracted to West Yorkshire in 2023.

It may be telling that the story about Harry Redknapp’s interest in the vacant Leeds United job seems to have originated from Redknapp himself, but the fact that this is even being reported raises questions about what on earth is going on with Leeds’ attempts to replace Jesse Marsch, who was relieved of his responsibilities last week after seven matches without a win.

It’s now been five-and-a-half years since Redknapp left Birmingham City with the club bottom of the Championship and announced his retirement from the game a month later. Since then, he’s been unable to resist the siren call of ‘consultancy’ positions and media work, taking informal advisory positions at Yeovil Town and Bournemouth, but is there any case to be made for him actually doing a job and keeping Leeds in the Premier League?

The answer to that question would seem to be a fairly emphatic ‘no’. Redknapp is now 75 years old, and was never really known for his tactical sophistication when he was managing at the top level before. With the game itself having continued to change towards an increasingly strategic and technical model, it seems unlikely that a man who once stated under oath that “I write like a two-year-old, can’t use a computer and I’ve never sent a fax, email or text” would be able to fit into a world that had already started changing long before he last retired.

Experience counts for a lot, and it might well be the case that Redknapp could still motivate his players. But one of the issues with Leeds under Jesse Marsch was that they could look tactically muddled at times. Marsch came from the Red Bull world – where there is a definite philosophy – but his strategic approach, which it was hoped would harness the best of Leeds under Marcelo Bielsa while jettisoning the aspects that weren’t working in the Premier League, left his team too easy to pick off.

Leeds obviously shouldn’t just drop the very idea of having a tactical identity because Marsch’s approach didn’t work out. Leeds need to be better organised and better suited to the demands of the second half of a Premier League season.

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