Leeds United's McDermott on the edge already

Ouch. Nice Guy Brian found a nasty side after the Millwall defeat yesterday and laid into his players big time. And that's hardly surprising after 5 defeats in 6 games have seen the once mighty Whites crash out of the League Cup and plummet to fifteenth in the Championship.

Listen to McDermott's comments after the game and you hear the words of a man under pressure - and cracking. And the parallels with Old Big Gob Warnock are frightening. So much so that some may be wondering if the Arab Bank Built on Sand are simply a front for Master Bates, and if the man on the touchline is really Warnock wearing a Halloween mask.

According to Father Brian, the team "didn't turn up" for the second half, and if that isn't a classic example of Warnockesque hyper-bollocks, I don't know what is! Tell me, if the players don't perform after a half time team talk, whose fault is that exactly? The manager is there to organise and inspire his team, but on his own admission, McDermott failed to do either. Perhaps they didn't turn up because they were all aboard the Leeds United Feel Good Factor Sleeper Express to the Premiership, Europe Infinity and Beyond shunted up a New Cross siding!

And poor Nice Guy Brian is absolutely terrified that the Feel Good Factor Express has derailed. His fear of the fans turning on him and his employers is evident when he says, "If the fans see another second-half performance like we did then we’re going to have a problem. We need to keep the fans with us.” This seems to be McDermott's only tactic. Fuel the passion of the fans, keep them on side, stoke up the atmosphere inside the ground, and the players will pick up steam, toot merrily and clatter their way up the table.

The trouble is, Leeds fans are a fickle bunch and don't take kindly to losing. How many will show up for the next home game? The accountants at the Arab Bank Built on Sand will be looking on anxiously. If the gate drops below 20,000, the Feel Good Factor Express will have derailed financially as well as in terms of football results.

And crucially, McDermott came perilously close to admitting that his players are not good enough when he said, "The second half came as a shock to my system. I’m bitterly disappointed with the players we’ve got, who are decent but are not at the level at this moment in time." Now this is very dangerous territory and marks a departure from Warnock. Old Big Gob criticised individuals but was always careful not to suggest that the squad itself was crap. If you are a Leeds player this morning, how do you feel reading that your manager is "bitterly disappointed with the players we've got"?

Of course, McDermott is right to be concerned, because the squad isn't good enough, but Warnock kept this bunch in with a shout of the playoffs until the final weeks of the season and, despite a good start, Leeds are already well adrift of the playoffs this time around - despite adding Hunt, Murphy, Wootten and Smith to Warnock's cesspool.

Poor Father Brian is learning that the "Don't worry, be happy" mantra can only take you so far. Many more defeats and he could be shown the same exit door as Warnock!