Bielsa's magic and method behind the "madness"
Marcelo Bielsa stirs incredible love. Leeds United fans are planning to give their former head coach a warm welcome when his Uruguay side play England at Wembley tomorrow. They don’t forget the excitement – and promotion - El Loco’s team brought them. His former players talk of how much the Argentinian helped them. “He taught me everything,” Gabriel Batistuta once said. Coaches from A-listers like Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino to rising stars like Kim Hellberg credit Bielsa as an inspiration. “Best manager in the world,” Guardiola once observed of Bielsa. They know the substance amidst the mystique of this remarkable maverick manager.
His trophy collection is relatively small; titles in the 90s at Newell’s Old Boys and Velez Sarsfield, Olympic glory with Carlos Tevez, Javier Mascherano and Argentina in 2004 and that EFL Championship with Leeds in 2020. Bielsa’s influence on football cannot be defined by silverware. He’s more than a manager. He’s a philosophy made flesh, a commitment to high-energy football. His attacking approach, meticulousness and dedication is worshipped by fans, players and coaches alike.
English football misses a dash of Bielsa. The depicting of English football as a flair-free, dead-ball dead end is obviously over-stated. The more hysterical headlines lamenting the decline of individual talent, and the focus on set-pieces, overlook the presence of Eberechi Eze and Cole Palmer and the emergence of exciting young English talent like Max Dowman, Rio Ngumoha and, longer term, JJ Gabriel at Manchester United.
The more legitimate argument is that English football is developing talent but needs to have the belief amongst coaches to unleash it more. Bielsa would. He made Kalvin Phillips believe. Patrick Bamford won his only England cap, against Andorra in 2021, while a player transformed physically and tactically under Bielsa.
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Fans feel a strong connection with Bielsa. They love the controlled chaos of his football, the drama, the swarm. They also feel Bielsa knows how they feel. Bielsa famously instructed his Leeds players to pick up litter at Thorp Arch for three hours. The time was deliberately chosen. It was how long it took for the average Leeds fan to earn the money to afford a match ticket to Elland Road. Bielsa wanted his players to appreciate the work put in. Whatever effect it had on the players, the fans loved it.