The fury came billowing out as the game careered towards its inevitable conclusion. As another attack broke down, with their team trailing, Leeds fans took aim at the directors’ box.
‘Orta! It’s time to go,’ they hollered, repeating it for added emphasis. ‘Orta, Orta! It’s time to go.’ Down in Goodison Park’s tunnel, after another defeat, the man central to those chants looked befuddled. Victor Orta, director of football at Elland Road, is no closer to appointing a permanent manager and the longer he dithers, the more likely it is that Leeds will be relegated.
It is two weeks since Jesse Marsch was sacked, and in that time Orta has pursued more false leads than Inspector Clouseau, chief among them being the idea that he would be able to free Feyenoord’s Arne Slot from a watertight contract in the Netherlands.