The deal to officially appoint Neil Redfearn as the next Leeds manger seems to have taken a major step towards completion. The Yorkshire Posts Phil Hay is reporting that a salary has been agreed.

There is still work to be done, as Redfearn will want certain assurances about his future, and that of the academy, but that is something that can be works through.

Whilst the popular Redfearn wanted an announcement before the weekends trip to Cardiff, it looked like it may have dragged onto next week. It now seems likely that he will be installed before the trip to Wales.

Neil Redfearn is set to be officially announced as the new Leeds United coach today, after verbally agreeing a contract yesterday.  Technically, it is a long term contract, but I don’t think that carries much water with Cellino in charge!  There is talk that if it doesn’t work out, Redfearn will be allowed to return to the academy – but whether that is practical is anyone’s guess.

So what do we know of the new man at the helm?  He was born in Dewsbury in 1965, and had a fantastic playing career – albeit mainly in the lower leagues, where he made 790 appearances.  He was best known for his spell at Barnsley though where he earned a reputation as a goal scoring midfielder (and earning me a boat load of fantasy football points – but I digress!).  Redfearn had some fairly uneventful spells as manager and caretaker manager at clubs mainly in and around Yorkshire, like Halifax and Scarborough, before moving to Leeds to work in their academy in January 2009.

He has worked mainly with the academy and reserve team, as well as supporting various managers with first team coaching.

Redfearn is a good man – and those who know him say he knows his own mind.  What is clear, is that Cellino seems to respect him more than anyone else he has come into contact with.  With all the mayhem going on, and the moving on of managers, Carbone, Naylor, Bromby etc,  Redfearn is the one man who’s position has never been in doubt.  He’s a football man, a Leeds fan, and he understands the club.  He has the respect of the players – certainly the younger ones who he has worked with from an early age.  Players like Chris Dawson – unfortunate to be overlooked in recent weeks following fine form for the U21’s, must be delighted with the appointment. 

What he needs now is the support of the President.  Let him make his own mistakes, let him do it his way.  Let’s not fire him after his first bad run.  The plan for Leeds was never to go up this season – next year was always the target, so let’s have some much needed stability.  There is a crop of young players who have shown glimpses of what they can achieve.  They have produced some fantastic goals, some great interplay, and a style of football that is much easier on the eye than that of recent years – however, that’s all it has been…glimpses – a 5 minute spell here, and 10 minute spell there, even the occasional good 45 minutes.  What that says is that the ability is there, the right man is needed to get it out of them consistently.  Is Redfearn the man?  He has got to be given the chance to show what he can do.  The fans were hugely against Hockaday from day one, and bemused by Milanic, but the vast majority are in agreement that ‘Redders’ is that right man.  Hopefully Massimo will have learnt some valuable lessons over the last few months and give him the opportunity.

With Leeds on the verge of officially appointing Neil Redfearn as manager, we’ve moved into a critical time for Chairman/president, Massimo Cellino.  The eccentric Italian has bought himself a huge amount of goodwill by ridding the club of GFH, and bringing in young ambitious players, who, for the most part, can play a bit.  He made the right noises from the outset – buying back Elland Road and talk of taking the club back to the Premiership. 

However, the support is seemingly splitting.  He will have technically had 5 managers in the space of 18 games (McDermott last game of last season, Hockaday 6 games, Redfearn 4 games, Milanic 6 games, Redfearn at Cardiff), which is ridiculous.

If Redfearn is not backed – not financially, but properly backed, with support, and by letting him do things his way, he’ll start to have a problem.  If he doesn’t come up with the proposed Elland Road buy back next month, he’ll have another one.

At the moment, I fear for my club.  Cellino has a massive opportunity to get this right.  He seems to get half way there, then screws things up with some baffling decisions.  There is no doubt at all that the man knows his stuff.  He is a real football man, with a huge passion for the game, and particularly us – however, this is also his downfall.  He gets involved in far too much, interviews he doesn’t need to give, team changes that should be nothing to do with him etc.  He micro manages to a ridiculous level.

The best thing he can do now is let Redfearn have a real run.  To take a step back and just let him go with it.  Pick the team, play it is own way – succeed or fail on his own.  If Redfearn is sacked after a half dozen games or so, the tide will turn, and Cellino might once again be escaping an Elland Road car park via a taxi.

Get it right Massimo, and you will be adored for a long, long time – November is going to be a massive month for him, and the club.

With another manager dismissed, Cellino is living up to his reputation as a man of little patience.

Anyone who witnessed the second half today cannot have been surprised-the players clearly are talented, as the first half showed, but a baffling reshuffle at halftime sealed the bosses fate.

However, Cellino needs to have a radical rethink about his model. With an average dismissal rate of 1.5 managers a year, it clearly doesn't work. Redfearn will take over, and you have to hope that the academy man is given a huge amount of support, and more importantly, time.

Redfearn has shown he has the ability, but Cellino has a habit of sackig quickly, and bringing in managers with little or no pedigree. He has made some awful decisions-and future appointments need to be proven. Redfearn is absolutely ye right choice, but if he only is given 6 games, irrespective of results, this mighty club of ours will once again be turned into a laughing stock.

Cellino has bought himself a lot of goodwill with the fans-mainly for some quality additions, but he is starting to lose face with the shocking managerial appointments-Redfearn is the right choice-now back him...

Silvestri, Byram, Bellusci, Pearce, Berardi, Bianchi, Austin, Mowatt, Adryan, Doukara, Antenucci.

Subs: S Taylor, Cooper, Warnock, Sloth, Cook, Morison, Sharp.

Cook and Warnock drop to bench, with Adryan making first start and Byram returning.