McDermott will get it right yet, insist Leeds duo

Noel Hunt in action against Derby County.

Striker Hunt and first-team coach Redfearn rallied behind McDermott with United’s boss reflecting on the capitulation at Derby County which rounded off a flurry of poor results.

Hunt said McDermott would “get it absolutely right” at Elland Road while Redfearn believes the 52-year-old’s impact on Leeds’ academy at Thorp Arch is proof that the club were in safe hands, despite their chequered start to the season.

Saturday’s 3-1 loss at Pride Park was United’s fourth defeat in five Championship games, quelling the optimism created by the opening month of the season in which Leeds went six matches without defeat.

But Hunt, who played under McDermott during the Berkshire club’s Championship title-winning year in 2012 and followed him to United on a free transfer in July, claimed the Leeds boss would make a positive mark on Elland Road this term and arrest the club’s form.

“Over time he got it absolutely right at Reading and he’ll do the same here,” Hunt said. “He’s that type of guy and he won’t have come here for anything other than success. I know how driven he is.

“As players you get 100 per cent support from him and he’s very honest. You don’t get any BS. He tells it like it is and he won’t put any lies out there. He won’t ask the fans to swallow anything that’s not true and he’ll work as hard as you like to make sure he achieves what he wants to achieve.”

Redfearn is part of McDermott’s senior coaching staff having taken on the joint role of first-team coach and development squad manager following McDermott’s appointment in April.

United’s manager aimed to make sweeping changes at Elland Road, promising to raise the senior squad from a poor season under Neil Warnock while improving both the training ground and the productivity of Leeds’ academy at Thorp Arch.

Redfearn said: “The academy’s doing really well and the manager’s got to take a lot of credit for that. A lot of credit.

“He’s been brave enough to come in and throw young players into the first team and there’s light at the end of the tunnel for those players now.”

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