Former Leeds United star Noel Whelan thinks people must “feel a little bit” for Steve Evans due to the manner in which the club are treating the 53-year-old.

Evans, who took charge of Leeds in October, guided the club to a 13th-place finish in the Championship, 15 points adrift of the playoffs, when his primary objective was to keep the Whites clear of the relegation zone.




However, Leeds owner Massimo Cellino is yet to offer Evans a new deal which would keep him at the club next season.

The Yorkshire giants are also openly trying to bring in a new head coach without telling the former Rotherham United boss his fate.
 


And Whelan, who believes Evans being the bookmakers' favourite to retain his job shows the absurdness of the situation, went on to add that Leeds are not handling the matter in a professional manner.

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"You have got to feel a little bit for Steve Evans at the moment", he wrote in his column in the Yorkshire Evening Post.

“With what’s going on and the way they are going about their search for a new manager – not firing him, not speaking to him, it’s very disrespectful to Steve Evans, or any manager in that position.

“It’s not the way you should go about your job and it’s not professional.

“I don’t like to see any manager lose their job but when someone is still in a job and you are interviewing other managers for that position when he hasn’t been sacked, that just becomes farcical.

“The fact that Steve is still here is saying that he wants to be at the club and he wants to manage Leeds United next season.

“Many managers would have walked, I’m sure. But like Steve said at the end of the season, he fell in love with the club and I think that’s what Leeds United does to you so why would you want to walk away from the job?

“But it’s going to be very difficult to have a relationship with a chairman that obviously doesn’t seem to want you at the club because he is looking elsewhere. And he is looking at managers that I don’t think are any better than Steve Evans.

“The fact that Steve is now even money favourite to keep his own job shows just how ridiculous this situation is.”

Karl Robinson, Darrell Clarke and John Sheridan have all been linked with moving to Leeds to become Evans’ successor at Elland Road, but all three are now out of the running.