The Leeds Thread

[Derry Alli]

Tear to a glass eye. 

 

[repeat_offender]

14 hours ago, Ludo*1 said:

Bielsa is the difference maker.

Wish he was given a chance at a truly big club tbh!

 

5 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

I don't think he wanted too, tbh.

I'm pretty sure @RandomGuy has hit the nail on the head here,  I really don't think he'd see success at Real Madrid, Juventus, Barcelona etc as a worthy enterprise, I doubt  he sees winning something with those clubs as a real achievment. 

As othesr have said here he isn't renowned for long spells in club management and we should just enjoy him whilst he's here. I do question how practical it is for him to sustain the level of work he puts in long term,  inevitably he'll move on and we''ll beome Bielsa widows

[WALMOT]

CHAMPIONS.

The weekend keeps on giving.

[Robin.Hood]

Marcelo Bielsa wins his first league title since 1998, the Argentine Clausura with Velez Sarsfield. It's his first trophy of any kind since the Olympics title with Argentina in 2004.

[WALMOT]

https://pbs.twimg.com/ad_img/1284478865000341506/5SdTejAu?format=png&name=small

Edited July 18, 2020 by WALMOT

[Derry Alli]

Never in doubt.

[Ron Aldo]

Really hope that Leeds add to what they've got next season rather than go for a full overhaul. Villa and Fulham have spent fortunes after being promoted in recent years and look how that's worked out.

[Bully Wee Villa]

We had no choice but to spend, we scraped promotion through the playoffs having been lower midtable for most of the season and had a number of players leave or have their loans end. We aren't going down because we spent loads, but because we spent it badly. Not spending significantly would have seen us comfortably below Norwich in the league... as we were last season.

Leeds go up in a much better position than we did so should only have to aim to bring in about four or five players rather than the dozen or so that we needed.

[DrewDon]

Whilst not a Leeds fan myself, I appreciate the schadenfreude of tomorrow's game being against Derby, who celebrated their play-off win at Elland Road last season like they had just won the Champions League and then subsequently went on to lose the final anyway. 

[Bully Wee Villa]

Wasn't that just a response to Leeds taking the piss after the first leg?

[RandomGuy.]

1 hour ago, Ron Aldo said:

Really hope that Leeds add to what they've got next season rather than go for a full overhaul. Villa and Fulham have spent fortunes after being promoted in recent years and look how that's worked out.

Tbf Villa aren't down yet.

3pts from a team who play Man City and Arsenal in their final two games. One win could see Villa safe.

[Bedford White]

1 hour ago, DrewDon said:

Whilst not a Leeds fan myself, I appreciate the schadenfreude of tomorrow's game being against Derby, who celebrated their play-off win at Elland Road last season like they had just won the Champions League and then subsequently went on to lose the final anyway. 

It's as if its written in the stars with Big Jack, Norm and Trevor smiling down on us. The Huddersfield winner timed at 19:19 in our centenary season and a guard of honour from Derby 

[thisal]

6 hours ago, Bully Wee Villa said:

Wasn't that just a response to Leeds taking the piss after the first leg?

No it was response to Leeds quite rightly taking the piss over Frank Lampard's tears at spygate. 

[WALMOT]

Happy 65th Birthday to 'El Loco' Marcelo Bielsa.

[WALMOT]

No. You won't find Marcelo Bielsa's best-loved dish In Sant' Angelo's menu. They don't serve shredded beef with grilled potatoes, carrots and pumpkin the way the man likes it: separately, so that the juice doesn't spoil the side dish's crisp. But it doesn't matter. You may come across him in that joyful Italian restaurant located in the main street of Wetherby, the small village where he lives, northern Leeds. He will surely wear his dress suit, the same he wears at work.

How many jogging sets are there in Bielsa's wardrobe? Which one will he put on to celebrate Leeds' return to the Premier League, the news that the whole county of Yorkshire longed for 16 years? The same one he wore last October, when he flaunted his grey dress in the club's centenary celebration? Nobody cares about the dress code now in this area of England overwhelmed by happiness. He feels that happiness too, but he reserves it for himself. At long last, sports success knocks on the door of somebody who likes defining himself as "a loser"! His last big achievement had lost its luster through the years: the gold medal in the Olympic Games of Athens 2004, the same year when Leeds were relegated. The extremes meet today.

 

Bielsa spends many hours a day at Thorp Arch. Crédito: Leeds United

 

The Argentinian born in the city of Rosario arrived in Leeds two years ago. The city is witnessing a phenomenon that occurred in most of the teams where Bielsa worked after his professional exile from Argentina in 2007. His figure gradually turned into an object of veneration for the fans of a club deeply rooted in the spirit of the place. "When Leeds United go well, it is not an exaggeration to say that you can feel the change of mood in the city at many different levels. Marcelo has captured not just the fans' imagination, but that of the whole city", wrote the leader of Leeds City Council, Judith Blake, in an e-mail.

 

More details in Spanish version: "Un vecino en jogging: Bielsa, la vida ordinaria de un hombre extraordinario"

 

The manager took up the challenge to rebuild a rusty giant, a football reference that had gone through decades without any big wins. After a terrific start, the team unbelievably failed to win promotion by the end of last season, a frustration that almost made the project collapse. In the last moment of Take us Home -a documentary series premiered by Amazon filmed during the entire season and whose first episode is named "El Loco", in Spanish-, the voice of the actor Russel Crowe explains why the project could go ahead: "Bielsa brought back hope and pride to the club and the city. Owners, directors, players and fans are banded together again. The sleeping giant has awoken and the revolution has just began", says Crowe, in an epic tone.

Why are walls painted, sculptures chiseled and beers brewed in his honor? The Catalan journalist Guillem Balagué said there is a decisive element: "The rate of unemployment is high in Leeds (4.3% before the pandemic, more than half a point than the rest of the country), so constituents feel left behind and forgotten. Having somebody who puts the city in the international spotlight makes him iconic, it turns him in something more than a manager".

 

Bielsa talks to his players during a game. Now the Premier League awaits them. Crédito: @LUFC

 

His brother Rafael Bielsa, who suffers and enjoys the progress made by the "master" from Santiago de Chile, drew a comparison: "The sense of belonging is a vital aspect that Marcelo values before accepting an offer. There is a common thread in his choices: Leeds, as well as Newell's, Vélez, Athletic de Bilbao or Olympique de Marseille, transmits identity and engagement".

When the adventure began, by mid-2018, Balagué, who lives in London, moved for four days to the north of England to follow the phenomenon closely. This experience led to a podcast broadcast by BBC Radio, where he works. "The documentary made a big impact here. We contributed to spread that powerful image. Supporters are loving life with him. His playing style, with such a suffocating and kamikaze pressure, is something never seen before. It offers a halo of hope to a city that is quite depressed and obsolete". In her office, Black goes further: "We have embraced him as one of us", she underlines.

Rural Air

Why does he like them? Some time ago, in a press conference, Bielsa employed a mental image to explain why it had been so easy for him to adapt to living in the edges of Leeds, a city with a 793,000 population. "Most of the region is rural, and in my heart I'm a rural man", he described himself, without raising his gaze.

When the weather is on his side -there have been almost no rains in this unusual end of the season-, the coach puts on his backpack and hikes from the center of the village to Thorp Arch, the training ground remodeled at the request of Bielsa.

 

On the way to training in Leeds, crossing over to Bielsa and having your picture taken can happen any morning.

 

The tramp goes through a lovely green landscape and takes 50 minutes at a steady pace, all alone. He kindly refuses journalists offers for a lift and supporters' company: he has always liked walking alone, be it in Ezeiza training ground, in the family's countryside in Máximo Paz, in Guadalajara, in Santiago de Chile, in the outskirts of Bilbao, in Marseille or in Lille. Due to the virality of social media, the selfies captured along the rural scene by Leeds' supporters became a real internet sensation: at the forefront stands the occasional fan, Bielsa behind, and an open view in the background.

That rural life is childhood itself. His brother recalls family memories: "We would spend our summers in the house of our maternal grandmother, nonna Marina, in Morteros, province of Córdoba, and although it was a village, it was quite rural: the colors, the smells, the silence. When Marcelo decided to become manager of Chile's national team, one day he took a walk through Juan Pinto Durán training ground with Harold Mayne-Nicholls, the president of the Chilean Football Federation, and asked his permission to lodge in there. He pointed towards the Andes and said: "I would never forgive myself missing the opportunity to wake up and go to bed looking at this wonder".

The coronavirus, a nervous pause in the road map toward the promotion to the elite division, forced Bielsa to change his beloved ordinary neighbor's lifestyle. His fellow nationals who usually chat in the Facebook group "Argentinos en Leeds" amuse themselves by looking for him in the streets of Wetherby, a wealthy area of 22,000 residents where 9 out of 10 people have central heating at home to overcome chilly winters.

 

In the streets of Wetherby, seeing Bielsa became common. Crédito: Twitter @SimoLUFC6

 

But, for some months, his sweatshirt didn't turn up anymore on a side table in Costa Coffee, where he has an open monthly account; you couldn't see him pushing his trolley in the supermarket Morrisons any longer; and he wouldn't show up so often in Cooplands, the bakery located in Market Place, the main road. He spent the lockdown mainly isolated in the home where he lives after leaving the luxurious Rudding Park Hotel, where he first lived in England. He watched football, of course, as he did in his early days as manager in his home in Rosario, where he had a structure made to support four TV sets, one beneath the other: a lost battle against his obsession for the ball.

How did he get to Wetherby? It's an odd story. Bielsa searched tirelessly until he found what he was looking for: an austere apartment over a shop, in the quiet commercial area of the village. His wife, Laura, spends some months with him during the year, as she splits her time between Leeds and Rosario, their family's hometown. Inés (30) and Mercedes (28), their daughters, have their own agenda in Argentina, and their sporadic visits to Leeds are also an excuse to take a trip to a more appealing tourist destination. "Marcelo doesn't know how to enjoy usual pleasures. He doesn't need more than two bedrooms, a living-room, a good bathroom and not much more than that. With houses, cars, watches, tattoos, clothing. He's old fashioned with all that", confirms his brother. and first admirer.

Closed to strangers

That small story describes just a part of Bielsa's personality, often celebrated by his adepts, but it doesn't paint the whole picture. Who can go so far, dig into his privacy and know his feelings? Very few. In Thorp Arch, the manager keeps his discipline at work, a high level of demand on the footballers and expects total commitment from his staff. But those walls are impenetrable. It is something learned by any outsider to the cause wishing to establish an informal contact: the head coach's assistants raise barriers right away.

A worthy detail to note: during the production of this article, LA NACIÓN asked a former member of Bielsa's staff the list with the names of the current staff members: "I must have the authorization from Marcelo and from them all", was the dry answer. The club's official website doesn't publish the names iether. The pursuit of such simple information is useful to understand the closed-door policy governing the manager's land.

 

Bielsas entrance to Elland Road, a match day. Fuente: Reuters

 

The walls of Bielsa -who will turn 65 next 21 July, a day before Leeds' farewell match of the Championship- are impenetrable even for his hirers. In January 2019, Leeds' owner -the Italian businessman Andrea Radrizzani- only knew a couple of minutes before that Bielsa would respond to the famous episode known as Spygate by delivering a press conference in which he would share the information gathered concerning almost all rivals. The decision of opening his Power Point to the world illustrates the way Bielsa relates to his bosses: he respects his own viewpoint until the end, although that may expose him to unbelievable situations. "We would have preferred that those explanations were kept private", is all that Radrizzani could say then. And they kept on working together.

Bielsa's circle of confidence includes two of his compatriots: Diego Flores (Assistant Head Coach), from Córdoba, and Pablo Quiroga (video analyst), from Buenos Aires. Both of them have common characteristics: an unknown past and a profound admiration for a manager they fell in love with at a distance. Flores and Quiroga now hold positions that Eduardo Berizzo and Luis Bonini have held for many years. Besides his specific task, this season Flores acts as Bielsa's translator in press conferences; his boss -who never speaks English in public- corrects him if he's not satisfied with the translated passage. In January, after a defeat, Bielsa said that Leeds had had "twice or three times" more goal-scoring chances than his rival; Flores opted to translate that the chances had been "many more". Error: the manager insisted until his assistant translated as he wished. For him, that minimum nuance was worth a live interruption.

A loser who opens minds

Obsessed with the precise word and always willing to argue, Bielsa could be at a disadvantage, as he doesn't address the footballers in English. Rafael, his transatlantic goalkeeper, doesn't share that opinion: "He would be at a disadvantage if he was one of those managers who become friends with the players. In that case, speaking the language would be more necessary. During the week, his assistants perform the exercises he planned. During the match, he only gives very simple indications to the players. And for the halftime, crucial for Marcelo, he keeps in mind, with an absolute clarity, what he wants to express to the players, so the translation becomes easier", says Rafael.

Balagué, on the other hand, is convinced that an intangible of great value is lost on the way: "Bielsa's speech is interesting enough to attract the supporters and make players reflect, but there is a paradox: the poetry of his words, the way he says it, doesn't affect anybody, except those who understand Spanish". Hasn't his English progressed in these two years? "He understands it and he speaks it, but he is shy. Many speak average English after their third whisky, but the thing is that Marcelo doesn't drink alcohol", says Rafael, with humour.

 

The murals with Bielsas image can be seen around the stadium.

 

That language barrier didn't prevent him from appreciating the values he perceives in his players: "I've mainly worked with British players here, and others are Europeans. They have an understanding of professionalism that I find very attractive", he praised them before getting the promotion. "Some of these players are thinking of becoming managers because of him", observes Balagué.

Therein lies, maybe, the main strength of Bielsa's career: his capacity to make players follow him as a master, become passionate about the game and -as shown by so many stories- mirror him when they think about their next steps in the sport. It is not his intention, but he teaches. And sometimes a vocation is born. Wherever he goes, he manages to engage the club -and the city, in many cases- in the project he leads. His legacy is worth more for these intangibles than for the sports achievements. Champion twice in Newell's at the beginning of his career as manager, in Vélez in 1998, and in the cited Olympics in 2004, he is often remembered as the manager of the Argentina national team that was one of the top candidates to win the 2002 FIFA World Cup, but couldn't even make it through the group stage. That is certainly the frustration that affected him most.

 

Passionate, Bielsa screams in the middle of a game. With Leeds, he won his first title in Europe.

 

The "loser" mask he himself mentions was fueled by the incredible final lost to Brazil in Copa América 2004 -missed by Argentina when it seemed won- and the two finals he couldn't win in 2012 with the Athletic de Bilbao in a period of a month. But these two defeats should be perceived as an asset: the strange thing is that he could have gone so far with a team that, by the time he took charge, lived more on its glorious past rather than on its mediocre present. The same happened in Leeds United.

Blake, who has headed the city for five years, praises him to the skies: "It is not just the fantastic football style that the team is playing, or how Marcelo has managed to transform it and get a 10% extra from many players. It's his general approach of football as a whole. He recognizes the importance of fans, and how the game becomes nothing without them. It is his passion, his engagement, his meticulous attention to details, and also his modesty", she acclaims.

Mr. Jogging Suit

There are habits that Bielsa take with him wherever he goes. For example, living far from the spotlight. Wetherby is practical to go to the training ground, but the drive takes more than half an hour from the village to the centre of Leeds or to Elland Road, the stadium. That's nothing new for him: during the two years he managed Athletic de Bilbao -the European destination that touched him most-, the coach lived with his wife close to the beaches of Getxo, at a 25-minute drive from San Mamés Stadium. Even then, his preference for wearing sports uniforms was his trademark, to the point that the Basque press called him jokingly "Mr. Jogging Suit".

Bielsa left Bilbao after a very poor second season, but the memory of all he had given prevailed: the teaching spirit, the unlimited dedication, the identification with a cause that he adopted as his own, the enthusiasm to give back the missed glory to a landmark club. Another common point with the experience in Leeds.

Of all the tales that circulate in Bilbao even today -seven years after his farewell-, the most picturesque one is as follows: it is said that one Sunday evening, Bielsa was looking for a place to dine in Getxo and found a light on in a small restaurant. Inside there was just the owner, who was about to close the door. Confronted to the untimely question of the celebrated visitor, the man didn't dare to refuse a table on time grounds. And since that night, the owner waited for him on Sundays, and they would also have dinner together. Nowadays, in the massive stadium inaugurated anew some month after the coach's departure, Athletic Museum visitors can admire, amid hundreds of football shirts. Bielsa's jogging suit!

 

Bielsa is very demanding with the players. Crédito: Leeds United

 

The family picture taken the evening of Leeds' centenary proves that, far from fearing memes (does he by chance know what they are?), the habit turned into a mandate in his mind. 69 people, including the squad, authorities and club legends posed for the pictures: 68 of them wore suits or dinner suits.

When did he become a fan of jugging suits? His brother, who spends lockdown in the Argentine official residence in Santiago de Chile waiting to take up position officially as ambassador to that country, believes Marcelo's life took a turn when he was appointed Argentina national team manager, by the end of 1998. "He got rid of suits and blazer suits and turned to jogging suits. It was, as is usually the case with him, a drastic decision", says Rafael.

Last year, Leeds won the Fifa Fair Play Award for a gesture ordered by Bielsa: letting Aston Villa score to equalise the goal scored immediately before, when a Villa player was down injured. In September, Bielsa didn't turn up at the luxurious awards ceremony held at the Scala Theater in Milan: it is believed in Leeds that he preferred not to exhibit his costume in such an alien and glamorous environment.

The smell of the Premier League

Gabriel Sadi is an Argentine university professor who settled in Leeds at the beginning of January. Like millions of people around the world, his plans have been affected by the pandemic, not because he had to stop delivering lectures at the University of Huddersfield -he does it online now-, but because his family couldn't leave their house in Buenos Aires and start up a new life in Yorkshire. As he waits for the storm to pass, Gabriel finds in Bielsa's Leeds a reason to liven up his video call with Tomás, his 7-year-old son. A painkiller for an unexpected anxiety and sadness. Gabriel promised his son they will go together to a Premier League match in Elland Road, when he and his mother, Lili, are able to join him in England. "What I have observed during this time -says the academic to LA NACION from Moortown, his new neighborhood- is that Leeds awakens mixed passions: Argentine-like passion in his supporters, and contempt in other teams. In light of these circumstances, the fact that Bielsa has brough the team back into the spotlight has a double effect: it boosts that feeling, and also the image of hero or guardian angel they have of him".

With more than a 30-year career, how much stamina does he have to compete in the level required by the Premier League? "He has a lot of energy. As long as he keeps it, and his mind declines slower than the body, I see him managing for a long time", says Rafael, enthusiastic. Recent experiences show that the second season of the Argentine in a club tends to be worse: the players' enchantment and even initial devotion usually lead to mental burnout due to the ever-demanding level of engagement. But Bielsa could break that trend in Leeds, despite the doubts cast by the club itself on how it was all going to end. The second year ended up being better than the first.

 

"Viva Bielsa": Leeds fans wave a flag at the Elland Road gate. Fuente: AFP

 

Now, having gone a long way as a manager, he approaches an unprecedented development in his career. How about managing for three years in a row in the same team? Not even in Newell's did that happen. Should he need a stimulus, there he has it! But being part of the best league in the world sounds like enough motivation to go on managing.

Blake knows where Leeds United is heading for, but she doesn't overlook its past: "We have been out of the Premier League for so long, and we have suffered very turbulent times, inside and outside the football field. After so long, Marcelo has given us real hope and the belief that we can have happy times again and emulate our past glories.

Balagué, who In the end is a journalist, is already envisioning the next match: "Can you imagine a duel Bielsa-Guardiola? It will be great!", he predicts. Blake expresses a wish that she feels is shared by the majority of the constituents: "I can say confidently in the name of the city that we hope that Marcelo stays and manages Leeds for a long time. We are very lucky to have him".

Who knows, maybe the ultimate incentive for Bielsa to go on writing new chapters in Leeds is hidden in a food recipe. By dint of seeing him sit at a table, perhaps the chef in Sant' Angelo learns to prepare the meat and vegetables according to his taste: all served it in two plates, of course, to keep the crisp.

 

In Sant Angelo, Bielsa usually goes to dinner: it is his favorite restaurant. Crédito: Twitter

 

Translation of Jaime Arrambide.

Excellant read.

 

[WALMOT]

MB's press conference:-

 

Happy birthday!

Thank you.

How much have you enjoyed the celebrations? Proudest achievement?

It’s going to be a memory for the rest of our lives. My best achievement is in the club where I have worked and belong. Everything happened here was very, very beautiful. I will never forget this.

Your future? Like to see it sorted quickly?

What I talk about is recognising the players. It’s very easy to justify for me. Maybe it’s a little difficult to summarise everything they have done. The first information that is very valuable is how many players were involved in the minutes of the season. Few players for a lot of minutes. Second thing is the tactical process of training they assume. The play of Leeds has been collective. The contribution of every player, if you add these contributions, is what makes the team play like that. The collective play needs to be trained in the same way, the individual unbalanced is less trainable. In our team it was more collective than anything else. That demands physical and mental work very high. We had few injuries. That talks about how the players care for themselves. Also, the capacity of our physical coaches. We had few injuries that had a long period of recovery. That talked about the efficiency of the medical staff. I also had decisive assistants. I execute decisions, but I don’t build just me, the building of the decisions. I don’t want to forget someone because we were a lot of people involved in the process to train our goalkeepers, to create images to help the players to develop, to create training to improve the fitness of our team. Each of them made more than me for the team to grow. Please believe this it is true. There is an example about the evaluation I am doing about my colleagues that confirms what I am saying is not exaggerated: Carlos Corberan has been chosen by one Championship team to be the manager of his first team and it is a team that one year ago was in the Premier League. You can prove what I am saying is true.

When will you discuss your own future?

Tomorrow we play. Of course, we need time to let this period pass because now all the emotions are high. We need to be, all of us, calm to think more clearly. I wish you help me to feel the objective I am saying. I am trying not to put the focus on me. Put the focus on players and supporters. Players I already explained. Great Leeds supporters. They wait for this moment a long time and now they can celebrate this as they deserve. The sign in our times is we want to make things happen before the process requires. Always, everybody answers, they don’t want to take the time for things to happen as they wish. I think we have to be patient in this moment as well. This is a moment everybody was waiting, wishing and deserving as well That is linked what the players and also with the supporters who are fall in love with the club. For this reason I think the ideal is try to keep this moment as long as we can. After, naturally, this moment will go. Not put another feeling on this moment that is very special. Maybe, I am so happy in this moment I don’t want to make this moment pass quickly.

Any presents?

A lot and some of them very special. They come from Argentina. British gifts from all the people I met here. Some anonymous and others more personal, but I thank for all of them. My wife, my daughter and all the more close people to me in Argentina and in those days, this link is bigger.

 

Collective effort to make this happen - Corberan - what did you see in him?

I don’t have any responsibility about the election of Carlos in our staff. When I had a meeting in Buenos Aires with Victor and Andrea, Carlos was there as well. Carlos was Orta’s election, agreed by the owner. Accepted by me, even if I didn’t know him. He was very important colleague for us, all the contributions the club did in the human aspect, the club cannot improve this. There are people maybe you don’t know, Rob, Rishi, others who work in the shadows. Adam from the academy. Stix, a big man in the club. Maybe a big man just for him. I know I am talking a lot, but there are a lot of people who made a lot for us in the shadows of the club. The ladies in the kitchen are wonderful people. In this isolation period, my wife couldn’t be here with me, I am living alone now and this lady, Bella [?], once a week used to leave outside his door, one container with very tasty soup. Those things are not linked with the football, but the emotional. It’s a big contribution. I can talk also, in the same way, about Bella’s colleagues. People in the nutrition department, Thorp Arch security, the cleaners when they have everything clean in the isolation period, this was very important. The ground staff, they are artists, if you look at our grounds. The same with every person who works in the club, not just TA, but ER. We didn’t meet them every day, but we received their support as we did at TA. I really need to describe all we get from the club. I tell this story about Bella. Maybe I should not because it’s private, but with every person with us in this club, I could say a story as I did with Bella. When we go to the stadium, the competition always, you don’t know what’s going to happen and the driver of our bus, always he had a way of approaching me with a little gift, with a sweet that this little thing made me feel I wasn’t alone before competition. Another thing I would like to explain, in this moment, where I am high on emotion for the success, enjoying a lot for the joy we have produced. I want to say, it’s not possible to make joy to the supporters, what this creates means is the same as now, but the opposite. That means success creates a lot of joy, like sadness, loss of wish. Those feelings that produce the defeat, so if you keep the sensibility, it’s very hard when you know you are making bad feelings to the supporters. Supporters sometimes don’t understand how hard it is know when you are not making them happy, with losses. Everybody knows the money we earn in our job is too big. Finally, players produce what we receive in money, but I always think the justification of what we earn in this job, that is like fair when you receive if you take into account how hard it is to support when you have a defeat, you lose, and know you are making a lot of people sad. That’s hard and it’s like the club pays you for this. Sometimes you can feel people around football are out fo reality and I don’t know if it is fair to think this connect well to the reality. This links with how difficult it is, this life is failure. Enjoy what you receive materially in money. One example: what Phillips suffered last summer and the joy he experiences now, are not linked with his professional condition. He suffered for the pain he equally suffered. I also suffered. Now he is so happy for the joy he provoked to his people and he also is one of them. To summarise, sometimes you lose sensibility, we use to protect ourselves.

Players are guilty when they don’t get what they are looking for. To judge them you might consider how much they suffered when they cannot get success. Now the ideal is a good question to be able to give simple answers.

Berardi - want him to stay?

Berardi, for all of us, he’s an example. Don’t think the fact I say he is an example, I don’t value his football ability. The 30 minutes he played in the last match was one for the best displays he had in two years. In the social life of the team, he is very important and I imagine Berardi is the person you ask what we should do. Sometimes I considered asking him, when I had doubts. Of course my job is make decisions and I had more doubt than certainty. More than once I had this feeling to take advice from him.

What is it like for your family in Argentina?

Once a week they share the same stress I feel on the pitch. They are used to this. They have a training to support this.

When will you take a break?

Tomorrow we finish the competition and start the rest period.

Charlton expectations - Bowyer has wine for you

They are a tough team. They fight for every moment. I feel gratitude in advance for the congratulations.

Do you measure success by joy for supporters or through trophies?

Always we are ready to compete. Every time we have an objective, but if we have another objective we can get we make our effort to try and get it. For instance, promotion was one objective and be champions another.

Of course, the joy we bring to supporters is important, but both things are linked.

[WALMOT]

Goalkeeper completes permanent move.

Leeds United are delighted to announce the signing of goalkeeper Illan Meslier.

The French goalkeeper initially joined the club last summer on a season-long loan deal from FC Lorient and the move to Elland Road has now been made permanent.

Meslier has signed a three-year deal with Leeds United, running until the summer of 2023.

The 20-year-old made 11 appearances in all competitions for the Whites during the 2019/20 campaign, helping Leeds to win the Sky Bet Championship.

He made his Leeds debut in January’s FA Cup third round tie with Arsenal, before making his league debut away at Hull City in February.

In his 10 Championship games for the Whites, Meslier has been very impressive between the sticks, helping Marcelo Bielsa’s side keep seven clean sheets.

After progressing through the ranks with Lorient, the goalkeeper has also won caps with France at Under-18, Under-19 and Under-20 level.

He becomes the club’s second signing of the summer, after Helder Costa’s loan move also became permanent.

[Ludo*1]

Leeds owner is talking about trying to sign Edson Cavani.

[Oscar Wilder]

See they've got a 5 year Adidas strip deal sorted too! [emoji106]

[WALMOT]

In his latest column for leedsunited.com, lifelong supporter Jon Howe reflects on how reflects on a memorable season, which will see the Whites return to the Premier League for the first time in 16 years.

Howe is the author of two books on the club, 2015 hit ‘The Only Place For Us: An A-Z History of Elland Road’ and ‘All White: Leeds United’s 100 Greatest Players’ in 2012.



It is often said that football works in cycles. In essence, every dog has its day and every club is on a cycle working towards achievement and a period of success. You just don’t know how long the cycle is and whereabouts on it you are, until you achieve success. For some clubs it might be a small cycle lasting two or three years, and success is easily repeatable, for others it is a huge, never-ending cycle. For Leeds United it has been a 16-year cycle, and when you’ve been staring at something from a distance for 16 years, it is strange to admit that you don’t know how to feel when you finally have it in your hands.

Elation, exhaustion, relief; it’s all there. But this is a little bit like having your dream car sat on the driveway, but all you want to do is stare at it and sit in it. What do we do now, faced with a strange void of post-climactic emptiness? Well we take the car for a spin and enjoy it, don’t we?

But first I think we need a break from this. We’ve gone from the lowest of lows to the highest of highs in just 12 months, and in between there was plenty of worry and uncertainty. Mental fatigue effects supporters too, and a draining experience takes its toll. And that’s because football matters.

We’ve lived and breathed this season for a full 12 months, not to mention the warped and pockmarked history of what came before it, and now we need some distance to truly reflect and appreciate it. And now, maybe, we can also appreciate ‘last’ season a little more and enjoy the early development of our love affair with Marcelo Bielsa, and those epic goals and last minute winners, in a new light?

These players have now created history, and something that will define the rest of their lives, and our lives. They have now risen above the status of mere mortals. It’s not like they didn’t know this would happen, and that creates a pressure all of its own. Because this is a reminder of what Leeds United once was, and what it has achieved, and now it has woken from a coma to embrace being a statement part of civic life and civic pride, to bring in sporting, commercial and development opportunities that the club and the city deserves. Big players, big plans, big occasions. And that’s why this promotion ‘had’ to be achieved. It had to happen to enable people to think about Leeds United differently; to change everyone’s mind-set – fans, players, managers, opposition, media, civic leaders, commercial organisations – and to move on from a flawed, rudderless and sub-standard identity.

And Leeds United have got here through responding to leadership. If you are needing leadership but you don’t get it, you need to either take control yourself or look elsewhere. For many people in this country that’s not possible, but for Leeds United fans, we are fortunate to have had an abundance of leadership in our lives, just when we needed it. On and off the pitch, Leeds United have kept their counsel and responded impeccably to the challenges. Looking back through history it is criminal that you would try to achieve success in any other way, and be content with non-league standards, rancorous belligerence and short-term thinking. Because look what you can actually achieve with Leeds United?

In Marcelo Bielsa we have a leader who has delivered everything he promised. But then did he really promise us anything? He came with a reputation; and with a cloak of mystique, complexity and intrigue, but there were no brash statements, no platitudes and no empty pledges. Immediately, everything had meaning and everything meant business, but with a quiet humility and a tender compassion which was a perfect contradiction to the dynamic, flamboyant, ruthless and unforgiving football his team displayed.

Never let it be forgotten that this Leeds United rose up from the canvass with a herculean effort and finally delivered. From a point 12 months ago when it felt this goal could never be achieved – if 2018/19 wasn’t a promotion season then what on earth did one look like? – here we are having done it, and done it with style, charm and plenty of room to spare.

It feels like this promotion is closure of some sort, and certainly closure that we needed. Now fans can close the book on being the laughing stock of British football; ‘doing a Leeds’ now means something else. We have a release from the purgatory of jokes about chasing spurious dreams, Goldfish, Histon, winding-up orders, watermelons and ‘manager eaters’. And bottlers. Leeds United is no longer an idle plaything; the village idiot wheeled out and secured in stocks to throw tomatoes at. Leeds United has substance, leadership and pride. Leeds United has success.   

So closure is completing the cycle. And now we’re on a different cycle and it’s up to us how slow and how long we take to complete it. Maybe we’ll never complete it? Because, for now, we have no plans to go anywhere. Other clubs have had their day in the sun, they might be back one day, who knows when? For now it’s our time.

It is our time to remind the world what Leeds United is. We’ve known it all along, but it can be futile trying to prove that to anyone else in the tribal playground of football; to our detractors, to our enemies and to those who used us as a plaything and a figure for their own amusement. Now it’s undeniable, and perhaps that’s the best bit?

These players have achieved and they have made history, but history is only part of the story. It has been a story of fear, anguish, resilience, absurdity and defiance. It is a story that has aged us, hurt us and defined us. And it might feel like this is the end of the story, but really it’s just the beginning.