David Prutton believes that new Leeds United manager Thomas Christiansen must follow in the footsteps of Sheffield Wednesday boss Carlos Carvalhal, and be backed in the transfer market, in order to succeed at Elland Road next season.
The Yorkshire club confirmed the appointment of the 44-year-old manager last week following the resignation of Garry Monk who is now in charge of fellow Championship side Middlesborough.
However, the Dane’s arrival has been met with a lot of criticism as he does not have any experience of playing or coaching in England.
Christiansen enjoyed success with his former club Apoel FC last season as he guided them to the league title – his first domestic title as a manager.
Writing in his column for the Yorkshire Post, former Leeds player Prutton believes that the new man should not be judged for his lack of experience in English football and claims he could become successful if he learns from fellow Championship manager Carvalhal.
“I’m not being disrespectful but he’s someone I haven’t followed and I can’t pretend to know a huge amount about him,” he said.
“Then again, we all said the same when Carlos Carvalhal came to Sheffield Wednesday two years ago.
“Wednesday have backed Carvalhal to an incredible extent financially. That’s strengthened his hand and given him a proper chance to avoid become another unflattering statistic. He was clever when he came in.
“Christiansen needs to operate in a similar way and so do Leeds. You can draw conclusions from his CV and make a judgement about how good he’s going be but the reality is that he’ll have a hard time at Elland Road unless Leeds give him a quality squad to work with.”
Carvalhal became the Wednesday manager at the beginning of the 2015-16 campaign and he has managed to guide them to the Championship playoffs for the past two consecutive seasons.
The Portuguese boss is just one of many foreign managers who have been able to make a significant impact on Championship clubs and Leeds supporters will be hoping that Christiansen can enjoy a successful spell at Elland Road.