The 15th of June marks exactly two years since Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds United joined the West Yorkshire club during the summer of 2018. Few could have guessed how successful the Argentine’s time would have been at Elland Road despite not taking Leeds to the Premier League just yet. Although it is now a matter of when and not if as Leeds sit on the brink of going up. But promotion aside, Bielsa has given Leeds a new identity that will shape the club for generations to come.
Indeed, when a man like Marcelo Bielsa arrives to manage your club, brace yourself for everything to change, like it did when he accepted the position at Elland Road in 2018. From the length of the grass on the training pitch to the location of the plug sockets around his office, if meticulous was accompanied by a picture, Bielsa’s would be next to it.
The 64-year-old is a perfectionist in every sense of the word. It is his obsessive as well as demanding nature that has shaken Leeds out of their 16-year slumber and given them the best chance they will ever have at promotion. The latest Championship betting has the Whites at 1/50 to be promoted which should tell you everything you need to know.
Adding to that, the odds are also stacked in Leeds’ favor to make their promotion even more special by winning their first bit of silverware in over 28 years as they are 1/3 to be the eventual winners of the Championship. It’s all a bit surreal when you think that for the most part, this is the same team that finished in 13th position two seasons ago. Bielsa has worked miracles and you all of a sudden understand why Pep Guardiola calls him the best manager in the world. It is far more than just coaching though, as Guardiola alludes to, it is an overhaul of everyone’s expectations and a jarring reminder of how football is meant to be played. It must be said, how he goes about achieving that is far from conventional.
The unbelievable secrets to his Leeds United revolution have made the Elland Road club the talk of the footballing world and it’s safe to say that Bielsa is one in a million.
When the day eventually comes and Bielsa and Leeds part ways, the legion of loyal Leeds United fans will be left with a blueprint of how they want all their future teams to play. Never again will Elland Road sit idly by and watch their team lump it forward with no real plan. Thanks to Bielsa, the ethos at Leeds is now one of pulsating and attractive football that is relentless in its pursuit of attacking the opposition’s goal.
In many ways, Leeds United’s destiny has been altered over the last two years and the effects of Bielsa’s stay will be felt long after he is gone. Decades from now, people will look back at the Bielsa years as the catalyst for sweeping change at the club. Leeds United’s long-suffering fans have endured disappointment but the future is now theirs for the taking.