Massimo Cellino said that he wanted a continental coach to come in; so it seemed inevitable that however well Neil Redfern did in the caretaker role it would only be temporary. With various names banded around from the ridiculous to the sublime, it seemed quite fitting that we hired another man I needed to consult Wikipedia on.

So who is Darko Milanic?

A 46 year old Slovenian, famed for some impressive records managing Maribor (with 4 titles and 5 cups in 5 years); although from what I can gather, Maribor are to the Slovenian league what Celtic are to the SPL, so perhaps those accolades aren’t quite as impressive as they seem, but who am I to judge?

His record at Sturm Gratz (where he enjoyed time as a player) is far less emphatic with many people still referencing a Europa League qualification round loss to the unheard-of Kopavogur a sign of things to come. But if we’re honest, Fergie was managing Scum when we beat them 1-0; isolated incidents don’t make you a bad manager. Equally, there are “apologists” (as some have called them at Gratz) suggesting that even Jose Mourinho couldn’t make a good team out of the squad there.

What can we expect coaching-wise?

At Maribor he seemed to favour 4-4-FUCKING-2 and a combination of that and 4-2-3-1 while at Gratz. Interestingly, I’d be keen to see how a 4-2-3-1 would work at Leeds, with perhaps something a little like this:

It’ll be interesting to see how a coach whose style has been described as “almost paternal” and “cautious” marries with Massimo’s desire for expansive attacking football. For all intents though, Darko has a reputation as being a good coach who helps to build a positive atmosphere. Given the latter is something I think Redders was able to add during his time as head coach, I’m optimistic that at least Darko has been given a fair starting point.

A good base to build from

One of the things that is fair to say is that previous managers and coaches have been given a poor squad in disarray, or instructed to rebuild with no budget. Simon Grayson did an astonishing job with the resources available, whereas Neil Warnock wanted to completely re-do the team with no money. Brian McDermott too needed to reshape the team but was given no budget (aside from a single outlay of £1m for Luke Murphy). Handsome Milanic has inherited a squad I think has some real quality in it, with an owner willing to invest. The squad seem happy, the fans seem fairly content and under Redders we were in good form (albeit not perfect, some of those first-half performances were abysmal).

All in all, it’s now time for Darko Milanic

And to be honest, I just want the opportunity to use this animated gif many, many times over the course of the season. On and on.