Leeds United head coach Darko Milanic to keep Neil Redfearn

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Darko MilanicImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Former Slovenia captain Darko Milanic managed Maribor to four successive league titles

New Leeds United boss Darko Milanic has said former caretaker manager Neil Redfearn will continue to be part of the first-team set-up at Elland Road.

The 46-year-old was announced as the new head coach on Tuesday after leaving Austrian club Sturm Graz.

Academy boss Redfearn was unbeaten in his four matches in charge of the Championship side, winning three.

"Neil will be in the dugout with me on matchdays," the Slovenian told BBC Radio Leeds.

"He did a great job with the team and I will talk with him in the next few days.

"It is important to keep the enthusiasm here because the guys did a great job in the last four games."

Redfearn was placed in caretaker charge after Dave Hockaday was sacked in August after just six games in charge.

Leeds owner Massimo Cellino considered the former Barnsley midfielder for the job on a full-time basis before deciding, along with sporting director Nicola Salerno, that the club need a foreign coach.

Milanic, who will be assisted by Serbian Novica Nikcevic, says he intends to make minor alterations to the team's style of play.

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Milanic won 42 caps for Slovenia and captained the side at Euro 2000

The former Slovenia captain managed Maribor to four successive league titles in his homeland before joining Sturm Graz last summer.

"I want to make some technical changes," he said. "I like that the fans can have fun but you need to have order on the pitch. The players need to be aggressive and play as a team."

Milanic's first game in charge will be Saturday's trip to Brentford.

Meanwhile, The Guardian reports, external that a judge in Italy has ruled that Cellino acted in a dishonest way when failing to pay import duty on a yacht.

The Football League's "fit and proper persons" rules prohibit people with unspent convictions for dishonesty offences from being directors, 30% owners or from exercising control over a club.

But the league said in a statement: "The Football League has not yet been provided with a copy of the Italian Court's judgment and therefore cannot make any comment regarding its specific contents at the current time."

Cellino, 58, was initially prevented from buying the Championship club in March, only for the decision to be reversed the following month.

His lawyer has called the judge's latest report on the case 'unpresentable' and said they have already lodged an appeal against it.