Leeds sack Javi Gracia, in talks with Sam Allardyce

Leeds United are set to part ways with manager Javi Gracia and are in talks to appoint former England boss Sam Allardyce as his replacement. Director of football Victor Orta is also set to leave the club. Leeds currently sit 17th in the Premier League, only above the relegation zone on goal difference, with four games left this season. Gracia, appointed in February as Jesse Marsch’s successor, has won only three of 11 league games in charge. The club have lost four of their past five matches and face leaders Manchester City on Saturday. Allardyce, who has been out of work since the end of the 2020-21 season when his West Brom side were relegated from the Premier League, has worked with Leeds chief executive Angus Kinnear at West Ham. Leeds face arguably the toughest end to the season of the clubs battling relegation, with City and Newcastle up next before a visit to West Ham and then Tottenham at Elland Road to end the campaign. After Sunday’s 4-1 defeat by Bournemouth, the Leeds United Supporters Advisory Board issued a statement of no confidence in the club’s management. Orta was appointed by Leeds chairman Andrea Radrizzani in 2017, and was responsible for the hiring of former head coach Marcelo Bielsa, who led them to promotion to the Premier League after a 16-year absence. Radrizzani also brought in Marsch after Bielsa’s sacking in February 2022 but, while the American kept Leeds in the top flight last season on the final day of the campaign, he was sacked in February. Orta is set to leave because he and the board do not agree on Gracia’s position.