Leeds boss Bielsa: My focus is on now and not future
YESTERDAY MARCELO Bielsa was swatting away questions about his Leeds United future. The reason, he said, was he was enjoying himself too much to leave a “very special moment”.
You could tell how happy he was because he would not stop talking. Asked about Huddersfield Town’s new head coachin-waiting Carlos Corberan, he gave a 16-minute answer – elongated because it had to be passed through translator Diego Flores – which quickly slipped into something like an Oscar acceptance speech, trying to thank anyone who ever did him a good turn in his two years in West Yorkshire.
“I know I’m talking a lot but there are a lot of people who did a lot for us,” he acknowledged, ending with the request: “Now I would like a question I can give a simple answer to!”
He was delighted not just because it was his 65th birthday, not only because of the many gifts he received from South America and England – some from loved ones, others anonymous fans – not because today at home to Charlton Athletic he celebrates his 100th game in charge – a rare feat in a nomadic managerial career – and not only because Liam Cooper will lift the Football League trophy. On top of that, he revelled in the joy he has given Leeds fans who waited 16 years to support a Premier League team again.
Despite his attempts to deflect praise, Bielsa has been fundamental to Leeds’s revival.
Chairman Andrea Radrizzani yesterday left the door ajar to pitch to free agent Edinson Cavani, but supporters will be anxious until the unpredictable Bielsa’s contract which expires after tonight’s final game is extended.
“Now emotions are high and we need to all be calm to think more clearly,” he explained/deadbatted.
“I don’t want to put the focus on me, I want to put it onto the players and supporters.
“A sign of our times is people don’t want to wait the necessary time for things to happen. We have to be patient.
“Keep this moment as long as we can. This moment will pass, so don’t put another feeling on it. I don’t want it to go too fast.”
If 2004 was a watershed for Leeds, it was for Bielsa too. Until tonight, it was the last time he collected a major winner’s medal.
In the intervening years he built a mystique. Sometimes in sport, losers are revered more than winners. Bielsa’s teams emulated Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle United, Johan Cruyff’s Holland and Brazil’s 1982 World Cup side in passing into folklore whilst the champions only made it onto honours boards.
The previous day, Pep Guardiola, Bielsa’s most exalted pupil, said of him: “Winning titles helps to have a job next season but at the end of your life, what you remember is not the titles you have won, what you remember is the memories and whether the manager taught you a lot.”
In 2020, Bielsa did what Guardiola failed to and merged beautiful football with a league title. Both are important to him.
“We always aim to compete,” insisted Bielsa, perhaps conscious of his lovely loser tag. “We have an objective but if there is another goal we can achieve too, we will also make an effort to achieve it. Promotion was one (this season), and to be champions another.
“The joy we give to supporters is important too but they are linked.”
Just as Bielsa is venerated for more than his trophy cabinet, so he looks more deeply in his appreciation of others.
“The club cannot improve on how it works on the human aspects,” he said.
“The ladies in the (Thorp Arch) kitchen are wonderful people and in this isolation period when my wife couldn’t be here with me I’m living alone, and once a week one left a container of very tasty soups outside my door. It’s not about the food, but the emotion.
“Maybe I shouldn’t tell this story because it’s private but I could tell a similar story for every person who has been with us.”
Bielsa takes great satisfaction in the joy he has given the many he mentioned because he feels immense pain from the frustration he has caused them. He sees top-level football’s astronomical wages as compensation.
“I’m really enjoying the joy we created but defeat produces a lot of sadness,” he reflected. “It’s very hard when you lose to know you are making supporters feel sad.
“Everybody knows the money we earn is too big but it’s fair when you take into account how hard it is when you lose and know you are making a lot of people sad. It’s like the club pay you for this.
“For example, (Kalvin) Phillips suffered last season (when Leeds lost in the play-offs) and now he is so happy for the joy he has given to people. He is one of them.”
Last six games: Leeds United WWWWWD; Charlton Athletic DDLLLD.
Referee: G Eltringham (Tyne and Wear). Last time:: Leeds United 1 Charlton Athletic 2, April 30, 2016, Championship.