I’m not saying that Neil is blameless, because I think you could contest the use of Antenucci as a lone forward, but the people hurling criticism at him seem to be ignoring the wider picture. I’ll try to make a case for Redders here.

I’m doing my best to retain a degree of objectivity, which is difficult because I hold Neil in high regard. But if I was able to find flaws with Larry, I can do so with Redders. Our recent dip in form has resulted in the head coach being subject to the normal barrage of criticism without most fans really considering the wider picture. Or, those fans who claim to have considered the context and events surrounding matters at Elland Road have heard clip-clopping and assumed it was a Zebra rather than the horse it actually is. Now I’ve sidestepped the Adryan/Unicorn reference we can move on.

Thompson was the brains, Redders knows nothing.

One of the least-informed arguments I’ve seen is “Steve Thompson was obviously the brains, Redders knows nothing, our results show that”. Which is an absurd thing to suggest.

Take the best chef in the world, put him in charge of a big kitchen and then don’t hire any cooks and see how good the food is.

Or perhaps we should come to your place of work, remove all your colleagues and then criticise the quality of your output?

My point is pretty clear here – we were better with Steve Thompson because he worked with Neil, it lightened the load allowing them each to specialise, allowing them each head-space to focus on specific parts of training. It doesn’t mean that Thommo was the brains behind the operation. In the chef scenario, does that make the solitary man a bad cook? In the paradigm where you’re the only one left at your job, does that mean your departed colleagues were the brains of the operation?

No.

Matt Childs is gone

Childs was a very important layer of abstraction between the board and the playing squad. The objectives of the head coach and the board will conflict; one needs to be concerned with business matters and the other does not (or at least not to the same degree). Matt Childs was a distinct layer of separation between Redfearn and the political minefield that is the Leeds United board.

With Childs gone Neil is directly exposed (as was Thompson), hence the “conflict” that resulted in Steve being dismissed. I’ve put conflict in quotes because I simply don’t believe the events we’ve been told about. Make no mistake, Childs’ departure has had a profound affect on the playing side of Leeds.

Undermined, uncertain and lacking direction

Let’s be honest, with the best intentions in the world, would you do your best work in the same circumstances that Neil has been put in? His contract expires soon without any promise, indication or guarantee that his services will be retained. There are public doubts over the sale of key players (who are yet to be offered new deals themselves). There’s uncertainty over the ownership situation (and the presence of a Red Bull Account Manager at the game today only added fuel to those fires). Neil has had a close friend and colleague dismissed for reasons that have not been disclosed.

In those circumstances (remembering that Neil has a family, a mortgage and other real-world responsibilities where job insecurity matters a lot) it’s not hard to see why results are struggling.

“But he’s the coach” I hear you cry. Yes, a coach who doesn’t know if he’ll still be at the club next week, whose close friend and ally has been publicly dismissed without reason, at a club who might be owned by someone else next week, playing a team who don’t know what their future looks like.

Look at that above statement and consider the arrogance it takes to then blame Neil. I simply don’t get it.

Sure, if we’re stable off-the-pitch, contracts are sorted, Neil is given the correct tools to do his job and is THEN unable to perform, I’ll agree with the criticism being levied at him.

But look at yourselves, LOOK AT YOURSELVES, you’re doing exactly what Massimo wants. He’s made Neil’s position almost impossible so that results will suffer and thereby reducing the backlash when he doesn’t renew his contract. Or at least that’s the cynical view I choose to hold (and will continue to do so until proven otherwise by the Sheriff himself).

Support the bloody club and don’t criticise the man who saved us from relegation in some of the most absurd circumstances a man could ever work under.

On and on.