Henry Winter hailed Marcelo Bielsa as a “legend” during a Twitter exchange with an account dedicated to his former club Newell’s Old Boys.
The Times’ chief football writer responded after it was reported how Leeds United fans had provided “incredible” support towards the Argentine club this season and the Yorkshire giants are now “box office” in South America.
Winter claimed this was “great to hear” as he drooled over Bielsa, a man whose admirers in the Premier League include elite-manager duo Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino.
great to hear, and not surprised. Bielsa's a legend. Guardiola and Pochettino keep reminding us! Good luck for the rest of the season.
— Henry Winter (@henrywinter) March 15, 2019
OPINION
This exchange demonstrates the size of Leeds’ fan base and the extraordinary impact made by Bielsa since he pitched up in English football for the first time last summer. The Argentine has transformed the fortunes of the Championship club on a shoestring transfer and player budget, and further enhanced a reputation that persuaded the Leeds board to hand him a deal worth three times more than any other managing is earning in the English second tier. Bielsa has found the perfect club in Leeds, whose passion, fanaticism and enormous following at home and abroad have taken the unorthodox and thoroughly original manager to their hearts. He has also won admirers across the English game for implementing an eyecatching and attacking playing style at Leeds that has taken the Championship by storm and left them well placed for automatic promotion with nine matches of the campaign remaining.