David Prutton has warned Leeds United chairman Andrea Radrizzani that there will be questions raised over his judgement if he parts company with Paul Heckingbottom in the summer.
Radrizzani sacked Thomas Christiansen as head coach in February and apologised for getting the appointment wrong last summer.
The Italian tempted Heckingbottom to leave Barnsley to take over at Elland Road and handed him an 18-month contract.
But already questions are being asked about Heckingbottom as he has failed to lift the Whites, who have continued to struggle and now sit a whopping 15 points off the Championship's top six, which had been identified as the minimum target by Radrizzani last summer.
But former Whites midfielder Prutton has cautioned against removing Heckingbottom in the summer, warning Radrizzani that if he does so it will be to invite further criticism of his judgement.
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"As for Leeds, it won’t reflect well on them if, at the the end of the season, they jettison Heckingbottom", Prutton wrote in his Yorkshire Evening Post column.
"It’s literally three months since Andrea Radrizzani was apologising for the last appointment he made.
"It would call into question Radrizzani’s judgement, the advice he’s getting from people around him and the idea that Leeds have a coherent plan when it comes to their philosophy."
Heckingbottom was given an 18-month contract when he agreed to take the Leeds job.
