Leeds United sack Uwe Rösler with Steve Evans set to take over

Leeds United have sacked their manager Uwe Rösler following their 2-1 defeat at home to Brighton at the weekend. The result left Leeds 18th in the Championship with two wins in 11 games this season.

The former Rotherham manager Steve Evans, who left that club in unexplained circumstances in September, is understood to have been lined up as a replacement and is thought to be preparing to take training at Leeds United’s Thorp Arch base on Monday.

In a statement on the Leeds website, the club’s owner and chairman Massimo Cellino said: “I would like to thank Uwe for the effort and commitment he showed during his time here. He was incredibly professional throughout and we had a strong working relationship. Unfortunately, results didn’t work out for him here and we are now looking elsewhere. Uwe leaves on good terms and everybody at Leeds United wishes him well for the future.”

The statement added that Rosler’s assistant, Rob Kelly, and first-team coach, Julian Darby, have both been placed on gardening leave and that a “further announcement will be made on leedsunited.com in due course”.

“I didn’t see that coming at all,” Rösler was quoted as saying outside his home in Stockport. “I always had a good relationship with the owner and he had talked about wanting to build.”

The German became Leeds’ fifth manager in just over 12 months when he signed a two-year deal in May, having previously been in charge at Wigan Athletic and Brentford.

According to Adam Pearson, the Leeds executive director, Cellino only had one meeting with Rösler before he offered him a contract as the head coach. “There were hundreds of candidates but the president was able to make a quick and definite decision,” he said.

Rösler follows his predecessors Neil Redfearn, Darko Milanic, Neil Hockaday and Brian McDermott out of the club as Cellino, who officially took charge in April 2014, prepares to make his sixth appointment in just over a year. In a twist of fate, Redfearn was appointed to succeed Evans at Rotherham.

“I don’t want to comment too much on what’s happening, but to build anything or to create anything you need stability,” Redfearn said.

“It’s probably frustrating for Uwe because he will have had his plans and put things in place as did I last year and got them to a certain situation where you think you can take them on. But they do it as they want to do it.”

Rösler had been preparing Leeds for Wednesday’s visit to Fulham, and told the club’s website before he was sacked that “we can’t feel sorry for ourselves”.

Leeds managers under Massimo Cellino

Brian McDermott

Record: 55 games, 21 wins, nine draws, 25 defeats

McDermott, originally appointed in 2013 under previous ownership, appeared to lose his job in January 2014, only to be reinstated, as the Italian’s takeover was still being processed. The Football League had initially blocked Cellino’s purchase of Leeds, however he won an appeal in April, and once he had McDermott’s days appeared numbered – and his departure was confirmed after the season.

Dave Hockaday

Record: Six games, two wins, zero draws, four defeats

Cellino’s first managerial hiring was a left-field one as Hockaday, whose only experience as manager had been with non-league Forest Green, was appointed amid much bewilderment. His reign lasted just six games, four of which ended in defeat, before Cellino pulled the plug.

Darko Milanic

Record: Six games, zero wins, three draws, three defeats

After the academy coach Neil Redfearn had steadied the ship with a six-game unbeaten run in a caretaker capacity, the Slovenian Milanic, who had managed Maribor and Sturm Graz on the continent, was tasked with carrying on his good work. He lasted only 32 days and half-a-dozen winless fixtures.

Neil Redfearn

Record: 33 games, 11 wins, seven draws, 15 defeats

This time Redfearn was handed the top job straight away and although he only won two of his first 13 games, a fine run from January through March, when Leeds lost just three times in the league, saved them from relegation. That run coincided with Cellino’s disqualification by the Football League and the writing appeared on the wall for Redfearn as the chairman returned and failed to publicly endorse him. When Cellino hired another manager at the end of the year, there was no mention of Redfearn’s departure.

Uwe Rösler

Record: 12 games, two wins, five draws, five defeats

The former Manchester City and Southampton striker, who had taken Wigan to the Championship play-offs before leaving them in the relegation zone, was given another shot with a second-tier club. The German presided over four Championship draws to start the season and Leeds were unbeaten until mid-September. However, they failed to win any of the six games at home prompting Cellino to pull the trigger once again.

(Guardian service)