After two months, two wins, four defeats, four sendings off and 70days, Leeds have parted company with David Hockaday tonight.

Having been humbled out of the League Cup by Bradford last night, the writing was on the wall for "The Hock" who survived the axe after last weekends' dismal showing at Watford.

Massimo Cellino thanked Hockaday for his efforts but admitted he had made a mistake in not axing the former Forest Green boss after the Vicarage Road horror-show.

Hockaday's Assistant Junior Lewis has also left the club. Yet again Neil Redfearn is in temporary charge for Saturday's visit of fellow strugglers Bolton Wanderers who ran riot in last seasons fixture winning 5-1.

I must admit I reserved my judgement when Hockaday was appointed. Although he was a seasoned coach and professional footballer, his managerial achievements at Forest Green were modest to put it politely.

I tried to rationalise my thinking by convincing myself that Hockaday was merely a cog in a wheel, working alongside a powerful ballroom team consisting of Sporting/Technical Directors and a Chairman in Cellino who had total decision-making power on transfer incomings and outgoings.

However when Benito Carbone left the club last month, the new experimental structure appeared to be cracking. An opening day defeat at Millwall had the knives out for Hockaday and I feared for his future.

After a narrow win over Accrington Stanley in the League Cup, Hockaday managed to raise his troops to snatch a last-gasp winner over his boyhood heroes and highly fancied Middlesbrough. After that game, I spotted Hockaday leaving the stadium alone carrying his holdall the perfect image of the teetotal loner he described himself as during one of many uncomfortable media interviews.

Hockaday was the proverbial startled rabbit in front of the headlights when the camera was turned on him. Alongside his assistant Junior Lewis who spent last season at the mighty Hendon, the pair often looked totally bewildered and clueless as Leeds slid to three consecutive defeats.

Now the search for Hockaday's successor starts and hopefully Massimo will pack away the salt and pepper pots, the props Hockaday used to convince the trigger-happy Italian to hire him, when he interviews Hockaday's potential replacements.

Early front-runners include Gary McAllister (again) and Oscar Garcia, the Catalan-born coach who got Brighton into last-seasons play-offs before resigning and taking on a second spell at Maccabi Tel Aviv until the unrest in the middle-east led him to fear for his safety. Ironically Benito Carbone is another name in the frame!

However the favourite at the time of writing is Rolando Maran, like Hockaday a chorus of who's will do the rounds? Maran apparently is Serie B's promotion specialist and like many of our summer signings, would it be a massive surprise if Massimo turned to the second-tier of Italian football in finding our next Head Coach?

Photo: Action Images

Plumbs added 11:55 - Aug 29 Not sure they were clueless as more trying to work under the constraints they were put under,where one or two of the incoming players (notably the English ones that Hock resourced) seemed very good. Having to play other managers failed players was always going to count against him,which was met with totally different responses to the Leeds' fansbase when compared to BMD. If anyone was a rabbit in the headlights then it was McDermott who asked for quality wingers and made us worse. Far too many people didnt give Hock a chance and that includes Mr Cellino,and I've no doubt the same thing will happen again

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