Jim Salveson, Marley Anderson and Niall McCaughan looked back on the 2019/20 Premier League season and looked ahead to the 2020/21 Premier League season during the latest edition of the Football Social Daily podcast and the panel spent some time discussing newly-promoted Leeds United and the future of Whites boss Marcelo Bielsa during the show.
Bielsa has been Leeds United manager since the summer of 2018. In his first season at Elland Road, the Whites finished in third place on the Championship table and ultimately failed to earn promotion to England’s top-flight via the play-offs. This past season, the Argentinian coach’s side managed to win the Championship and end Leeds United’s 16-year absence from the Premier League.
Bielsa was awarded the LMA Championship Manager of the Year award after guiding his Leeds side to the Championship title, however, the 65-year-old is currently not under contract for the 2020/21 campaign and reports have claimed that he ‘will demand quality additions’ to Leeds’ squad if he is to sign a new deal with the club.
During the latest edition of the Football Social Daily podcast, Salveson discussed which Premier League manager would be first to be sacked next season and while he did seem to assume that the Argentinian coach will be at Elland Road come the start of the campaign, he raised doubts about whether or not Bielsa will be Leeds United’s manager for the entirety of 2020/21.
Salveson said: “I’ve just got a feeling something’s going to happen, there’ll be another ‘Spygate’, or he’ll have a big bust-up with the owners or something and his time at Leeds will come to an end. I don’t know what it is, it’s not going to be anything related to what happens on the pitch, but it’ll be something that happens at some point.”
Do you think that Marcelo Bielsa will be at Leeds United for the long-term?
YES
NO
TIF Thoughts…
Bielsa has left managerial roles rather abruptly in the past. In the 2015/16 campaign, the Argentinian coach resigned as Olympique de Marseille manager after the club’s opening game of the season, declaring: “I have finished my work here” and he resigned from his role as Lazio manager after just two days in charge, back in 2016.
With that in mind, it may be understandable why Salveson believes that “something’s going to happen” that will lead to the 65-year-old departing from Elland Road before too long.