The taunts came from 40 miles apart, some from a different game altogether. Perhaps it is a sign of Leeds’ prominence and of their size that their failings bring such schadenfreude. The chorus from Old Trafford was familiar, but it has rarely been truer. “Leeds are falling apart again,” sang the Manchester United fans. And so, at Elland Road, chanted the Tottenham supporters. They weren’t wrong. In 2023, Leeds have lost two managers, their director of football and their Premier League status. They may yet lose prospective owners if the San Francisco 49ers decide they do not want a Championship club. They may be stripped of a host of players, if some of Rodrigo, Jack Harrison, Wilfried Gnonto, Tyler Adams, Luis Sinisterra and Robin Koch are poached by top-flight clubs; each is good enough to remain in the division. Leeds were not. Majority shareholder Andrea Radrizzani had called relegation “impossible” at the start of the season; it became inevitable by the end. Radrizzani had said in 2021 he wanted European football within three years and Leeds face a lengthy journey next season: it is 322 miles to Plymouth. Whether Radrizzani, who has just bought a stake in Sampdoria, is still at the helm remains to be seen. Leeds are falling apart off the pitch. They fell apart on it, too. In 13th place when they won their 29th game of the season, they took a mere two points from the remaining nine. They conceded 29 goals in that time. They fell apart defensively, letting in 18 goals in their last five matches under Javi Gracia and 11 in four under Sam Allardyce, the supposed defensive strategist. Scroll back a couple of years and Leeds were the neutrals’ favourites. Marcelo Bielsa’s team were cavaliers. Allardyce approached a must-win game with six defenders in his starting 11. Leeds still conceded four times to Tottenham. It summed up the shift in identity, or indeed the loss of one. Under Bielsa, Leeds had the clearest, most idiosyncratic philosophy of all: ultra attacking, very high tempo, man-marking all over the pitch. Jesse Marsch was Bielsa’s successor but not his heir; under Gracia and Allardyce, they abandoned many of their pressing principles but without replacing them with anything coherent. “What is the strategy of the club?” Allardyce asked after relegation. In its own way, his own appointment confirmed there is none now, beyond pressing the panic button. There was an element of farce amid the failures. A strategy? Two of Leeds’ coaching staff, Allardyce and Robbie Keane, met at Soccer Aid. Allardyce’s four weeks have included the suggestion no manager is better than him, which he hailed as a masterly deflection strategy, complaints about jury duty and the revelations of his concerns about climate change and AI. He picked up a £5 note from the touchline at West Ham and £500,000 for four weeks’ work; it worked out at £500,000 per point. Some at Leeds had laughed when Allardyce put himself forward for the job in February; they weren’t laughing in early May when they turned to him out of desperation. Chief executive Angus Kinnear wanted him, director of football Victor Orta did not. The season was a hubristic fiasco for both, for Radrizzani, for Leeds in general. Allardyce was a symptom as much as a cause, a four-game exercise in wishful thinking. Leeds had lined up Marsch to succeed Bielsa, perhaps overlooking better candidates, and no one to replace the American; neither Andoni Iraola nor Arne Slot wanted to be parachuted into a relegation battle mid-season, each perhaps thinking he had better options. They can count the cost of two terrible striking decisions: Jean-Kevin Agustin’s 48 minutes of football in a loan spell in 2020 will cost around £40mn while January’s £35m signing Georginio Rutter made one league start and did not register a shot on target. So Leeds spent £150m to regress this season. They did so with several signings who did not work – Weston McKennie, Brenden Aaronson, Rasmus Kristensen, Rutter - and it in different ways: losing 25 points from winning positions reflected badly on Marsch and his inability to bring any kind of control. It was also a sign of defensive ineptitude: after conceding 79 goals last season, Leeds let in a further 78. A mere five clean sheets, none in the last 14 games, suggested Orta was a poor judge of a defender – Junior Firpo, a disaster of a left-back, is a particular indictment – and showed what a troubled season Illan Meslier had. “Professional suicide,” said Allardyce and if he was talking about the Spurs game, the comment applied to much of the season. Leeds can wonder if it would have been different but for Patrick Bamford’s missed penalty against Newcastle. The real turning point of the season felt Crystal Palace’s burst of five goals in 32 minutes. Yet problems multiplied: Allardyce said they lacked strength in depth while Luke Ayling questioned their fitness after defeat to West Ham. They were running machines under Bielsa, perhaps burnt out by the end of his reign, while struggling to turn kick and rush into a winning strategy under Marsch. Sporadically, it looked brilliant: August’s demolition of Chelsea was emphatic, October’s win at Anfield historic. But Chelsea finished their own worst season for decades by retrieving Leeds’ messages from last summer to quote-tweet them; schadenfreude abounded at Stamford Bridge, too. Leeds should have more serious concerns. The last time they dropped out of the Premier League, it took them 16 years to return. Unlike in 2004, they are not in financial peril now. But, after a season when Leeds’ plans went horribly wrong, they need an owner, a manager, a director of football and a strategy. Read More Leeds’ relegation confirmed as Harry Kane hits double in Tottenham win How the final day played out as Everton survive and Leicester relegated with Leeds Premier League 2022/23 season awards: Best player, manager, transfer flop and breakthrough act

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It is a path less travelled, let alone as quickly, a journey from FC Copenhagen to Sturm Graz, Atalanta to Manchester United, all before his 21st birthday. It was the culmination of an ambition, too, for a boyhood United fan, the realisation of a dream. And yet there were points in a reunion where Rasmus Hojlund could be forgiven for wondering if he had been better off staying put. Not financially, admittedly, with the rewards that come with a £72m price tag, but from a footballing perspective. The more coherent team were Copenhagen, the low-budget overachievers seeming to have more of a plan than the high-budget overachievers but it was tempting to think that if the Danish champions could still call upon their most valuable old boy, they would have won at Old Trafford. Instead, United were victorious, aided by a telling intervention by a Dane. It wasn’t Hojlund, though that is no criticism: there are times when he is the brightest of United’s front three simply a process of excellence but here, as against Galatasaray, it was a consequence of excellence. But it was his compatriot Christian Eriksen who curled in a cross that Harry Maguire converted. Which, along with Andre Onana’s 97th-minute penalty save from Jordan Larsson, averted indignity. Which a draw would have been, given the gulf in resources between the clubs. Hojlund is proof of it. But as his former club, who had led against Galatasaray and Bayern Munich, came within a few inches of going ahead at Old Trafford, there were times when Hojlund had to stand and admire. In different ways, his younger brothers Oscar, a late substitute for Copenhagen, and Emil, who did not make the bench, were spectators. So was the older and more expensive sibling, limited to two touches in the first quarter of an hour, left stranded by United’s impotence. Yet, with the notable exception of Maguire’s decider, everything they did right thereafter in attack revolved around him. Which, in itself, may have been an indictment of others. Pivotal as centre-forwards can be, United looked over-reliant on one whose name, this time last year, may have simply seemed a failed attempt to spell Haaland. And the Norwegian, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had been keen to point out, was a player he advised United to sign for £4m, five years before they got Hojlund for 18 times as much. But in the Hojlund derby, the forward United did get to show a sharpness. He came alive in the final third in a manner to suggest that his teammates needed to give him more of the ball. After that uneventful first 15 minutes, he rifled a half-volley over the bar. His backheel almost released Scott McTominay to shoot. He teed up Eriksen when his fellow Dane had a shot well saved. When an offside Marcus Rashford was brought down by goalkeeper Kamil Grabara, he had raced on to Hojlund’s pass. When Alejandro Garnacho came close, it was because Hojlund led a break. When Elias Jelert was required to clear off his line, it was because Hojlund met Bruno Fernandes’ header with a deft piece of chest control. It was a sign of resourcefulness, an ability to make something out of nothing. Which, at times, was just as well, given his supply line. Neither winger is a crosser. Antony, as even those who have spent decades stranded on tiny islands in the Pacific Ocean know, will try and cut inside and shoot with his left foot. Rashford, too, has designs on being more of a scorer than a supplier. Hojlund spent some of the first half acting as the creator for McTominay, the ungainly auxiliary No 10. But United had more footballing craft with Eriksen on. He is the technician while Hojlund’s physical attributes form part of his appeal. He has got a wiry strength. He is a rangy runner with a turn of pace. He has an eager willingness that stands him in good stead. The raw materials are there. Yet the concern is that too few signings have improved at United in the last decade; it is just a coincidence of negotiating that Hojlund’s fee is very similar to Jadon Sancho’s but the exiled winger is proof United’s best-laid plans can go wrong. The feeling at Old Trafford now is that Hojlund has a high ceiling: higher even than Randal Kolo Muani, another on their summer striking shortlist and who ended up costing Paris Saint-Germain more. Thus far, he has a relatively low goal return: just three in 10 games for United. For both his first and current clubs, he has been more prolific in Europe. He never scored in the Danish Superliga. He has not struck in the Premier League, either: outscored by Diogo Dalot on domestic duty, his goals have been confined to Europe. Yet he kicked off as the Champions League’s joint top scorer, the product of a strike against Bayern and a brace against Galatasaray. Even as he drew a blank against Copenhagen, Hojlund added to the impression that he belongs on this stage. But as United laboured to victory, they scarcely offered compelling evidence they will still be in the Champions League after Christmas. Read More Manchester United pay emotional tribute to Sir Bobby Charlton before Copenhagen match Ten Hag lays flowers in centre circle as Man United pay tribute to Bobby Charlton Watch: FC Copenhagen fans chant ‘There’s only one Bobby Charlton’ at Old Trafford Manchester United vs FC Copenhagen LIVE: Latest Champions League updates Harry Maguire and Andre Onana heroics offer fitting tribute to Sir Bobby Charlton Man United fans cover Bobby Charlton statue with flowers and scarves ahead of match

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