OPINION
Leeds fans have fallen in love with Marcelo Bielsa this season and it’s easy to see why.
The maverick manager has transformed a side that flopped last season and taken them to within three games of the Premier League, with the play-offs starting on Saturday.
He revealed he paid the £200,000 spygate fine himself after admitting sending staff to watch opponents train and falling foul of England’s weird rules on etiquette.
And he has been said to sleep at Thorp Arch on occasions when his obsession with football and preparation go into the early hours.
Bielsa has also been snapped regularly around Leeds, walking home on his own from training, and that happened again yesterday after the pre-match press conference.
Yorkshire Evening Post journalist Phil Hay sent an amazing tweet out saying, “Hoying down at Thorp Arch earlier, absolutely horrible. Drive out and Bielsa is on his own starting a long trek home to Wetherby, no coat and just a tracksuit top on with his hood up, getting soaked.”
Hay offered Bielsa a lift and the manager replied, “No thank-you, I like this.”
Hay said that he was a “One-off” and we completely agree. Bielsa has worked wonders at Leeds but he’s put a whole new spotlight on the Championship.
And what he’s doing at Leeds goes far beyond the Championship table. Scratch a bit deeper and you’ll see the synergy between the Under-23s and the first-team, and you can see a holistic approach that leaves the club in a brilliant position for the future.
We hope he can push his side to play-off glory – we’d love to see Bielsa and his crazy, brilliant, eccentric ways in the Premier League.
Hoying down at Thorp Arch earlier, absolutely horrible. Drive out and Bielsa is on his own starting a long trek home to Wetherby, no coat and just a tracksuit top on with his hood up, getting soaked. “Would you like a lift??” “No thank you, I like this.” Such a one-off.
— Phil Hay (@PhilHay_) May 9, 2019