Who is Marcelo Bielsa: The Madman of The Premier League

 

Marcelo Bielsa is quite a character, but many football fans still don't know this man. So, let us take a look at the career of this person who has been nicknamed Madman. Having started coaching at Newell's (Argentina) at the age of twenty-five, he enjoyed a lot of success including beating Boca Juniors.

Having succeeded in Argentina, Bielsa endured a brief stint at Espanyol before the Argentinian National team came calling. But six years into his reign, he resigned having not won any trophies. He went on to live for three months in a monastery with no television or phone before moving to live in his farm for three years.

But Bielsa would return to football in 2007, securing a job with the Chile National team. After guiding his team to historic wins against Argentina and Uruguay, he quickly became very popular with the fans but eventually resigned to focus his attention on club football.

After an unsuccessful campaign with spanish side Athletic Bilbao, Bielsa moved to Marseille where he became famous for sitting on the touchline on his cooler. He also had his nickname 'El Loco Bielsa' which means 'Madman Bielsa' after an incident in which he threatened to pull the pin of a grenade when his house was being robbed during his time at Newell's. When his contract expired at Marseille, Italian team Lazio signed up Bielsa only for him to quit two days later, claiming that the club didn't sign the players he asked for.

The next year, LOSC Lille unveiled him as their new manager and he was immediately active, telling several experienced players that they were not needed as he wanted to use a squad of promising youngsters including future Arsenal star Nicholas Pépé. But after only thirteen games, he was suspended as coach and his contract was later terminated.

2018 would bring the new challenge of English football as Leeds United announced Bielsa as their head coach. Having started out brilliantly, Leeds looked on track for promotion to the Premier League until he was caught sending a man to spy on Frank Lampard's team Derby County during training. While Lampard was critical of this method, Tottenham coach Mauricio Pochetino described it as "Not a big deal", and Manchester City's Pep Guardiola praised Bielsa as one of the best.

Despite these, the rules were amended by the EFL and Leeds United were fined 200,000 pounds which Marcelo Bielsa paid out of his own pocket. However, there was to be another twist to this tale as during a Crucial match against rivals Aston Villa, having taken the lead of the game while a Villa player was down, Bielsa ordered his team to let the opposition score. This would later prove costly as Leeds would miss out on direct promotion, lose the playoffs, and spend another year in the Championship.

This kind act was rewarded though, as he and Leeds were given the FIFA Fair Play Award. And of course, Bielsa delivered what Leeds asked of him the the very next season by securing promotion and winning the championship. To honor this, a street in Leeds City Centre was named after him.

Marcelo Bielsa's first Premier League match was away against reigning champions Liverpool and though it ended in defeat, Leeds put up a brilliant fight scoring three goals, they had to settle for a 4-3 defeat as two penalties aided the champions to victory. However, he managed to win the first top-flight home match that Leeds have hosted in sixteen years. His attacking style of football always entertains and he has also coached some of the best managers in the world including Diego Simeone and Mauricio Pochettino.

Photo Credit: "Marcelo Bielsa" by Marooned is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0