El Loco

“A man with new ideas is mad. Until he succeeds”

Such has been the life of the football professor himself, Marcelo Bielsa.

Born into a incredibly wealthy family, Marcelo had every and all opportunities to pursue any occupation,given his brother and sister both served as high ranking politicians in Argentina,his brother especially, being Argentina’s minister for foreign affairs in the mid 2000s. An avid reader since childhood,Marcelo paired his eternal quest for knowledge with his passion,football. Growing up supporting Newells old boys(specifically because his father supported Newells rivals), he almost threw away his chance of representing his beloved Newells when he was kicked out of Newells accommodation after refusing to allow his motorcycle be kept outside. His resilience and desire to represent Newells would come true in 1975,aged 20. Bielsa soon realized that he wasn’t psychically good enough to be as good as he wanted. Realizing this,Bielsa retired aged 25 to pursue education. He studied Physical education at university, at which time he became the manager of the university team. The nature he would become famous for,relentless analysis was present from the start. Analyzing 3,000 male students to handpick 25 players for his team.

Bielsa’s fundamental ideals when it comes to his style of play,stems from not only for Total Football and the great Dutch sides of the 70’s, but César Luis Menotti and  Carlos Bilardo, who both individually managed Argentina to world cup glory in 1978 and 86 respectively. His fundamental ideals are football and how it’s played is a series of patterns,therefore having enough knowledge of said pattern makes the solution to every situation predictable. Therefore you can train your players to react to the situation that are a result of the pattern.

Bielsa became a youth coach at Newells,soon after becoming manager of the first team in 1990,he would win his boyhood club a league title in his first year as manger,squashing the doubts that many critics,even within his players had about his ability as a coach

Marcelo Bielsa’s strives for nothing but total devotion,no compromises from his players,setting weight and running targets. Players that don’t push themselves to the maximum are useless in his eyes,they are unplayable. His relentless pushing of his players to physical demands,as some past players of Bielsa have said “requires faith, he punishes you but you understand, you have faith in him, like some kind of cult leader.”

His tough love when it comes to players can be seen in his arrival as manager of Espanyol in 1998. He asked Mauricio Pochettino(who had played under bielsa at Newells) “what score he would give his performance last season out of 10,” Pochettino who had become a star for Espanyol,wanted to appear modest and said “a 8/10” bielsa disagreed saying “you’ve been shit and if you ever play like that again you’ll never play for me or Argentina again,” pochettino shocked by the words of his beloved mentor, drove home in tears.

But going back to his time with Newells old boys, Bielsa’s toughest moment in his career came in February 1992, when Newells lost 6-0 to San Lorenzo in a Copa Libertadores group game. Bielsa left the stadium without saying a world,drove home and as he recounts “Turned off all the lights,closed every curtain, and realized the true meaning of an expression we sometimes use lightly,I want to Die.” Bielsa pondered whether his core beliefs and morals of football was infact incorrect,because if not, how come he could lose a game by this much if he’d gone so far in his research? The answer to this for Bielsa was simple,he simply hadn’t gone far enough.

His reinstated devotion to his own belief system would be reinforced months later, when Newells met San Lorenzo in the Quarter Finals, with Newells walking away with a 4-0 victory. Bielsa’s final game in charge of Newells was the 1992 Copa Libertadores final against Sao Paolo, which Newells lost on penaltys. Bielsa who had become exhausted (much like his players) by coaching the team he supported since childhood, into his own style of play, resigned after this. Newells’ stadium is now named after him.

Bielsa managed in mexico for a few years before moving back to Argentina to manage Velez Sarsfield,he brought 51 video tapes to his interview detailing his research of Velez players and opposition, he guided Velez to a league title in 1998,his only season in charge. He moved to Espanyol but only took charge of 6 games until he was appointed as manager of the Argentina National Team. A tenure that last 7 years,which saw a unlucky exit in the 2002 World Cup,to eventual winner Brazil. He did lead Argentina with players like Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano to Gold at the 2004 Olympics in Athens,Argentina’s last major honor. After 14 exhausting years as a manager,he took a break from management.

His hiatus ended in 2007,becoming the coach of the Chilean National team, a period which saw Bielsa re-imagine Chilean football with the likes of Arturo Vidal becoming a mainstay,he took Chile to the Round of 16 at the 2010 World Cup,Chile’s best result in the competition since 1962. He eventually left in 2011,but his legacy and brand of play continued,which saw Chile win their first Copa America in 2015,under a style of football Bielsa imprinted.

Bielsa moved to Atletic Bilbao in 2011,his interview saw him bring a colour coded assessment of every single Bilbao game in the previous season. His demanding style took it’s time to take affect on the squad but it started to take affect before the end of the year with Bilbao enjoying an amazing 2nd half of the season,which saw them trash Manchester United in the 2011/2012 Europa league Semi-finals. But as is now the stigma around Marcelo Bielsa, it seemed he physicaly and mentally ran his players into the ground before the season ended,with Bilbao suffering two cup final loses. One to Atletico Madrid in the Europa League Final, and to Barcelona in the Copa Del Rey final. Barcelona’s manager, Pep Guardiola,a student of Bielsa’s. Bielsa gave him his report of Barcelona. Guardiola read the report and uttered “You know more about my team,than i do.” Bilbao would sell their best players at the end of Bielsa’s first season,much to his disappointment,these sales meant Bilbao enjoyed a more lackluster second season with Bielsa. With the board ultimately unwilling to renew Bielsa’s contract.

Since Bilbao, the stigma that Bielsa pushes his players to the limit,until they run out of energy just before the end of the season has stuck with him since. Bielsa responding to this drop off saying “if players weren’t human,i would never lose.”

What followed then was a string of job that did no favours in squashing the stigma. Tenures at Marseilles and Lille again showcased seasons that started promising but dropped off dramatically as Bielsa’s squad failed to cope with his physical and mental benchmarks. His time at Lazio was an odd exception, but not that it went right, Bielsa resigned just 2 days after taking the job, remarking that the board hadn’t been truthful in their recruitment,lying about the type of players they could pursue.

In 2018 however, a match was made in heaven. Marcelo Bielsa was contacted and agreed to become the new manger of Leeds United. A regular work permit couldn’t be supplied,so Bielsa had to pass the Exceptional talent board, which required a reference from a professional within the game, his student Mauricio Pochettino wrote on his behalf, and soon enough, Bielsa was ready to undertake one of the hardest jobs in football,getting Leeds promoted to the Premier League.

Leeds United being historically one of the biggest teams in England. However financial troubles in the early 2000s meant that Leeds decline was just beginning,they were relegated in 2004 from the Premier League to the championship(2nd Division) and a few years later were relegated again to League One(3rd Division). Debts had seen a footballing empire crumble in Leeds,their ever passionate and loyal supporters however stuck with them all the way. Leeds like Bielsa in this time had developed an idea of falling at the final hurdle, that they would get closer and closer to their return to the Premier League but they would always slip at the end.

Leeds under Bielsa were a force to be reckoned with,bielsa steam rolled the championship and was top at Christmas. Not without controversy. In January,at a Derby Country training session, a individual was spotted outside the training ground with a note book,a pen and a pair of binoculars. His purpose? Simple, he had been sent by Bielsa to document what Derby country were doing in training. A spy in the midst. SpyGate.

Faces were shocked, outrage was sparked and Marcelo Bielsa decided to hold an emergency press conference following this scandal. But,what was considered by insider journalists to be a press conference were in by Bielsa would announce his resignation, El Loco did the opposite. Giving an almost 2 hour talk, Marcelo outlined every single piece of data that he had about Derby County and how their manager Frank Lampard was going to play. Excel spreadsheets,pdfs, powerpoints,video,dozens of hours,all put in to prepare for one match,a match that didn’t serve any sort of added importance. This is just how Bielsa operates. He explained that he sends spies to every next opponent,not because it’ll give him a decisive edge, but because it will lower his anxiety. His obsessive habits when it comes to football can be showcased in various examples, when asked how’d he spend Christmas day, he responded by saying he’s exercise for 2 hours and watch 14 hours of football. Bielsa encouraged his father in law to watch and document games for him while on holiday with his family, he spent a weekend during Covid-19 lockdown by watching 19 hours of a academy prospect Alfie McCalmont, to see how good he really was. He is without doubt that most knowledgeable football mind there has ever been.

But as was prediction of every doubter about Bielsa at Leeds,the dream of promotion fell away at the final stretch. Missing out on automatic promotion,Leeds if they were to go up, would need to do it in a way they have failed time and time again at, the Playoffs.

Before the playoffs however, Bielsa and Leeds would be involved in one of the most bizarre events of the footballing year. It’s common sportsmanship knowledge that if a player from one team goes down with a nasty injury, the opposing team will stop playing to allow treatment to take place and not use a potential injury to their advantage, thus was not the case when Aston Villa came to Elland Road. A villa player suffered a potential head injury but even as Leeds were kicking the ball out of play, Mateusz Klich didn’t get the memo, who used the lack of play from the villa players to score a goal for Leeds,which created uproar amongst fans,players and coaching staff. Bielsa seeing the lack of sportsmanship from his team as disgraceful told his players to allow Aston Villa to score straight away, all of which comply except Pontus Jansson who is the only Leeds player trying to stop it from happening. This bizarre act of sportsmanship earned Marcelo Bielsa and Leeds United the FIFA Fair Play Award.

But unfortunately it would be the only thing they would win that season, after beating Frank Lampard’s Derby County in the 1st leg,Leeds were ultimately eliminated after an inspired comeback from Derby.

Leeds would be spending another season in the championship.

The second season was much like the first,the loans of Ben White,Helda Costa,Eddie Nketiah and Jack Harrison were welcome inprovements. Pontus Jansson who was the only player to not comply with Bielsa’s methods last season was given the boot to rivals Brentford. Bielsa’s impact on the playing squad has been so profound that Leeds youngster Jamie Shackelton has already started learning his coaching badges at age 19,decades before players usually undertake the course. There was only one difference the second season under bielsa, there was no drop off this time. Bielsa reinforced his ideas in his labored squad and they repaid him with their full commitment,a commitment and a drive from Bielsa that finally secured after 16 long years, Leeds’ promotion back to the Premier League as Championship Champions,Leeds first trophy since the 1st Division title in 1992, and Marcelo Bielsa first winners medal since his Gold at the 2004 Olympics.

“A man with new ideas is mad. Until he succeeds”

But now he has succeeded,the story of Marcelo Bielsa is far from over, his arrival to the Premier League with Leeds of all clubs will be a heavily watched,documented and discussed period to come. But whether or not Bielsa ends his career in Success or failure is a question that cannot be answered now, what is undeniable however that one of the most respected,influential,honest and nicest individual to ever grace the sport, can close a chapter of his career that has brought so much success and idolization from so many, no individual is as deserving as this success as him. Whatever happens with Bielsa and Leeds in the premier league, will take nothing away from the glorious two years he spent with Leeds in the Championship, whatever happens,Marcelo Bielsa is, now and forever will be a Legend to so many, now you can add every Leeds United supporter to that list. A long list of people that will forever see and remember him as the great mind he is,the ever driven professional, the ever obsessed academic,the ever crazy…..

Marcelo Bielsa