Former Leeds United forward Noel Whelan has defended under-fire Whites head coach Paul Heckingbottom and does not believe it is right to judge him just yet.
Leeds were hoping for a new manager bounce when they sacked Thomas Christiansen and appointed Heckingbottom, but the ex-Barnsley boss has won just one of his eight games in charge and the Whites have slumped to 14th in the Championship standings.
Some fans have already begun to question whether Heckingbottom is the right man to take Leeds forward.
But Whelan thinks that until Heckingbottom can shape the team to his liking then he must be afforded time, with the new head coach not having been able to make any additions to the squad or shed any players he does not want.
"He's inherited players who aren't his players", Whelan said on BBC Radio Leeds.
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"He has questioned the mental strength of some of the players and I'm sure he wants changes.
"You can only judge somebody once they've brought their own players in and got rid of the players they don't want.
"At the moment he's got to deal with the players he walked into this club with. He's brought nothing in, the players aren't his, they are somebody else's."
It remains to be seen if Heckingbottom will be able to identify players he wants to bring in over the summer as Leeds work with a director of football model.
Spaniard Victor Orta is currently in the director of football role at Elland Road and oversaw the club's transfer business last summer and in the January transfer window.
