Brian McDermottWell, that happened. Again.

A little over 72 hours since we witnessed the total capitulation and 5-1 home defeat to Bolton Wanderers, Reading roll into town and repeat the same trick.

The defeat wasn’t quite as severe, but conceding four goals on home soil is never a good sign and it’s far worse when they continue to be soft goals we’re making no discernible effort to defend.

An entire club in disarray is conducive to such results, of course, but fans have every right to expect a response after the humiliating defeat on Saturday. Players should be chomping at the bit to get back out there and put things right, but Leeds United are a team of cowardly misfits who don’t possess the character to ride out a storm, far less, bounce back following the total destruction of our home ground.

“Keep fighting” so says the unofficial club motto coined by Billy Bremner, a man who must be turning in his grave watching eleven overpaid footballers make a mockery of the club’s badge, all the while questioning what happened to the fighting spirit his club was built on. Out of respect, someone should head down to Elland Road and erect a screen around his statue to prevent his imagery being associated with this disparate band of misfits.

The man responsible for all this is debatable. I’d start with David Haigh personally for the chaos he caused leading up to Cellino’s takeover, but there’s a list of names you can hold accountable, on which, Brian McDermott’s name must feature prominently.

If you read this site regularly, you’ll know I’ve been a strong supporter of McDermott from day one, I’ve defended poor performances because he’s always had mitigating circumstances like the total lack of financial support in transfer windows and incompetent individuals creating chaos above him.

But McDermott’s days are numbered now and while he’ll only add to a list of managers who’ve been misled and promised the world at Elland Road, only to see their plans scuppered by circumstance, Leeds United need a manager who thrives in adversity, because Leeds United’s default position is adversity. McDermott isn’t that man.

He shares the same fundamental flaw as most of his players. While his power has been indisputably undermined by those above him and the conditions he’s had to work under are by no means fair, adversity has a way of separating the strong from the weak. The fighters from the shrinking violets.

Almost every name on Leeds United’s teamsheet, the manager included, lacks the character needed to ride out the storms this club is constantly hit by. Say what you will about some of our past managers, but you knew a response was coming when Simon Grayson’s team were humiliated. You knew he’d take action, whether that meant isolating players and causing a bit of tension, the club’s form soon corrected itself.

Dennis Wise and competent football manager should never be used in the same sentence, but even he knew how to use adversity to his favour. Leeds came out looking like a team possessed following that 15 point deduction, on Saturday and again last night, Leeds were a team going through the motions, totally void of the fight, determination and togetherness we need to ride out these storms.

Like players, some managers just don’t belong at certain clubs. If all was calm at Elland Road, the Jimmy Kebe’s of this world would be tearing the division apart, but we have too many characters who cower at the first sign of choppy waters and in McDermott, we have a manager who doesn’t seem able to correct that.

At Reading, things were different for both Brian McDermott and Jimmy Kebe. They didn’t have to contend with the same expectations and pressures that go hand-in-hand with life at Leeds United, they were a relatively small team performing well, the whole world was behind them. That’s never going to be the case at Elland Road. Even at our very best, players and managers will have their critics, people will hate us for no apparent reason, the pressure only intensifies and it takes big characters to cope with that.

There are plenty of people responsible for the predicament we currently find ourselves in, but McDermott is sinking along with the rest of them. The right manager for any football club depends on the circumstances, and in these turbulent times which will doubtless repeat irrespective of the takeover outcome, McDermott doesn’t have the character to get his team performing, ergo, he’s now the wrong man for the job.