Former Premier League midfielder and current Sky Sports pundit Steve Sidwell has revealed he has heard “phenomenal” things from people who have attended Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa’s seminars.
The Argentine boss has been a revelation in the Championship this season, taking Leeds to the brink of promotion back to the top flight, although his methods, which included scouting rivals’ training sessions, have come under scrutiny.
Having demonstrated his detailed approach to management in a press conference earlier this season, Sidwell has said he has heard incredible things from those who have learned from him behind-the-scenes.
He told Sky Sports’ The Debate (18/04, 22:00): “I know people that’s gone up and seen seminars of Bielsa and as a tactician and how deep he goes into every single game is phenomenal.”
Opinion
There is no doubting the incredible lengths Bielsa has gone to in order to try and get an advantage over his rivals this season – after all, there are now journalists who are almost qualified to be managers after his impromptu briefing this season. However that was just the tip of the iceberg for the Argentine boss and there will be so many more secrets and gems of knowledge that he has up his sleeve. You can imagine there would be plenty of up and coming managers, even experienced coaches, who would pay good money to learn from a man who is considered one of the best coaches in the world. However, you imagine that the Leeds United faithful would snap up all the tickets to that particular event just to spend time in the manager’s presence. However, after the spygate saga, you can imagine Bielsa will be keeping a lid on anything and everything he does now.