Stan Collymore has taken a swipe at Marcelo Bielsa, claiming that if the Leeds United manager was so great then he would be in charge of one of the biggest clubs in the world.
Leeds are currently top of the Championship and have their biggest chance of winning promotion back to the Premier League in well over a decade, and that is largely due to the impact that the Argentine has had at Elland Road.
However after the recent spygate scandal, when a member of Bielsa’s staff was caught watching over Derby’s training, Bielsa has received a lot of criticism from certain pundits.
Collymore has been out of the loudest in hitting out at the Whites boss, and he has suggested that he is heralded the way he is due to what Pep Guardiola once said about him.
“I’ve heard so many people in the past few days banging on about the level of detail Marcelo Bielsa gives to his scouting but, if you’ve never seen what other clubs do, how would you know if it’s unusual?” said Collymore in his column in the Sunday People print edition [page 55, January 20].
“I also keep hearing what a genius the Leeds boss is but I’m struggling to work out why.”
He added: “I’m not trying to be disrespectful to Bielsa, but I just don’t think he should be feted the way he is just because Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola once said he’s the best coach in the world.
“He’d have managed, and would still be managing, the biggest teams in the world if he was.”
OPINION
No one is saying that Bielsa is one of the best managers in the world. He hasn’t won much silverware but he has coached a lot in international football and he has always been at clubs that are just outside the best in the country, acting as a nearly-man with underdogs rather than a big club boss who sweeps up the competition. Put Bielsa in Guardiola’s spot and Man City would more than likely be in the exact same position. Put Bielsa at the Nou Camp, Bernabeu or Allianz Arena. None of those clubs would be worse off with him. It was a real coup when Leeds hired him in the summer and that is obvious when you look at where Leeds are in the Championship table. They are top and look good for promotion even though their squad is paper thing, players had have to be played out of position and a large number of young players have been relied upon. All of that and Bielsa has not spent much money at Elland Road. In Championship terms, he is a genius. Don’t let Collymore convince you otherwise.