I am upset. Very, very upset. I am upset with the way the club treated Bielsa with regard to his sacking. They did not afford him the same dignity and respect he displayed throughout his time at Leeds United. This leaves me feeling very uneasy with the ownership of the club and how they may behave in the future. The Bielsa rumblings started in November when Marsch was first linked with the job at Leeds. This rumour came out of nowhere, and now seems to have been the start of an organised media campaign to soften up the fan base for the inevitable. The rumour gathered pace, and by January it was starting to get a lot of coverage. At the end of the January window an Italian sports web site made the claim that Leeds wanted to sack Bielsa in January but decided to wait until the end of the season when his contract ran out, thereby saving money on a pay out and hiring a new manager. Now it had the hallmark of a drip feed media campaign, and you had to fear for Bielsa. It was clear he would leave in June, but the rumours continued to do the rounds, and every loss amplified the Marsch link. Then Peter Lowy appeared on the touchline at Elland Road before the Spurs game, and you knew it was over. Lowy had clearly come to put pressure on Radz to get it done. The whole event has come across as very calculated and cynical, and the 49ers ownership can colour it any way they want it, they planned this to happen after the Spurs game. They wanted Bielsa to stay in place for the difficult run of games from Chelsea through to Spurs before bringing in Marsch, thus shielding him and giving him a less difficult run of games to bed in and win the support of the fans. Calculated for sure. I really believe that Bielsa would have achieved the wins necessary to avoid relegation, now we’ll never know. Then there’s the fact that Marsch is a high-profile American coach, ad this will give 49ers Enterprise a golden opportunity to build their brand across the USA. Marsch may well be the right man to take Leeds on after Bielsa, but it’s pretty obvious his American roots will have been a major factor in his appointment. I have no problem with Leeds United’s brand being enhanced and the fan base being expanded globally, that’s the nature of the Premier League beast today. It will definitely change the identity of the club over time, something Leeds fans don’t really want to see, but that’s the price of “progress” in today’s game. The cynical way in which Bielsa’s sacking was handled with the build up of rumours for months, culminating with it being “leaked” to Phil fkn Hay to “announce” sums up where Leeds is headed as a club. Leeds is fast becoming a business, and Bielsa’s undignified dismissal underlines this fact. We’re not going to like it, but we have no choice. Will Leeds become another “tourist” club with high ticket prices and Waldorf Salads and Perrier being sold at the concession stands? There’s every chance, time will tell, but I for one really hope that 49ers owners tap into the Leeds culture and don’t go off on a marketing tangent to try and grow the fan base. Leeds United has a unique appeal, the club chooses you and no amount of marketing will make you a Leeds fan, that’s more for the likes of Red Scum and Blue Scum. The only marketing they need to push is #DirtyNation as per Jeff Reinebold, the gridiron pundit on Sky who fell in love with Leeds when he got told they were a team of hard uns known as Dirty Leeds. “That’ll do for me!” was his reaction, and he’s been Leeds since. No marketing, no Champions League, no trophies, no £100m players. Just an honest connection. Hopefully the 49ers owners get it. For now, I am still upset with them. Can I forgive our owners? Not sure right now, not sure I ever will. Bielsa was never going to stay after this season, but damn, they really should have handled it with more integrity towards the great man.
Have to agree 100% I have never trusted Radrizzani and his side kicks after last season I was prepared to say maybe I was wrong which I now rescind Jesse and the team will however have my full support MOT
Great posBilly and a valid point of view mate. I am not as cynical as you and prefer to believe it was a culmination problems/mistakes that sealed it. You could well be right though and whatever happened was wrong and a huge gamble
Good thoughts but none of this could have happened if Bielsa got the team winning. I personally would have stuck with him. Radz & co bailed at the first sign of trouble after all the years he brought mostly success
Having studied our games over the last three and a half years and correlated all known parameters against results the most striking observation is that our players don't like crowds. 18-19, full grounds and we fluff promotion. 19-20, no crowds at the end of the season we hold our nerves and we get promoted, 20-21 no crowds and we star in the premiership and secure 9th spot, 21-22 the crowds are back and we all know what is happening.
If you look at them through a particular lens, that could be a fair conclusion, based on my extensive research.
Well, you might as well get that decent bottle out then, you know the one you've been saving for that special occasion. Today, 13th March, is a day to celebrate.
I understand your feelings and I admired bielsa as we all did but it's a results game and they were not coming our way , as good as bielsa was he could not adapt the playing style and therefore the old saying is , if you keep doing the same things you end up with the same result . Put it this way if bielsa did not save Leeds from relegation and we went down that would have shattered his reputation so in a way Leeds utd saved him from that.
With you there, Billy. I posted a less detailed view, & alluded to much the same. It was an angry post. I blame the 49ers for this deliberate situation, and am still in mourning for Bielsa. Sorry Jesse, it's not personal, but you've got a lot to live up to, & I reserve judgement. Don't know if anyone's mentioned this whilst I was offline, but one of the most highlighted 'faults' that Bielsa had was plying square pegs in round holes. JM's first game - was it 6 wingers played as anything but? Plus Ayling as the awful CB who keeps on giving. Not a cheep! Tells a story, doesn't it? Just out after an unexpected 5 day stay in hospital & met some new Leeds fans. It was entertaining to hear their stories, but they certainly gave me food for thought with a couple of 'insider' gems. One was that Ayling was one of the players who approached Bielsa about changing. No idea if true, but they were convinced they had solid sources. The other gem really surprised me. Remember Bielsa had Raphinha on the bench? Nothing to do with fatigue after coming back from Brazil - it was a training incident. Raph just stopped one day, announced he had trained enough, & walked off the park. Result? Blowout then bench. That fits in with his poor performances too, so I'm inclined to believe it. I personally wonder about Llorente. No word of a blowout, but got dropped (or injured if you believe the official version) & having a very poor run. I'm wondering who's going to be the first journalist to draw up list of US targets we'll be signing to boost US sales. I may sound cynical, but I'm absolutely positive such a list exists at ER. Whether Orta knows anything about it remains to be seen, but there are already rumours that he'll be following Radz out the door at the end of the season. Btw, not suggesting they'll all be USasians (I refuse them the title Americans - that's the name of their continent, not the bloody country!), but I betcha our biggest signing will be a name that's already well known in the US. We'll see in due course, as all these things come out in the wash eventually, usually in the form of autobiography fodder.
Apparently square pegs in round holes is wrong and doesn’t work if you’re sitting on a bucket next to the dugout. But if you’re standing on the touchline wearing stonewash jeans it’s fine. Wakey’s already bought himself two pairs
Last weekend was the first time for months we had no square pegs, except James for 45, with a much better performance and result.
Hmmn, I think marsch has inherited a ‘square peg round hole squad’… And loads of people did bitch about his selections. I know some of you boys are in mourning and I too am sad the bielsa era is over. but ffxsake get a grip will ya! WJ… hope all’s now good after your hospital trip fella. Q? what nationality is Brendan aaronson? What manager did he use to play for? Answers on a post card.
