no bielsa, no party
There’s a new hipster club in town. On the first weekend of this season, Leeds United played their first game back in the Premier League in 16 years. Even though there were no fans in the stadium, the atmosphere was electric. They played reigning champions Liverpool and this was the best match of the first Premier League weekend back. Leeds was obviously rusty but they found their groove and gave Liverpool a run for their money and ended up losing 4–3. If the game had gone on a bit longer, we might have seen a good number of more goals. I watched this game with my family at a Bielsa Party which included a banner with the hashtag #NoBielsaNoParty on it and a propaganda-esque image of “El Loco.” Despite the score, we were not disappointed with his Premier League debut.
Leeds is managed by the last of a dying breed that inspires in the viewer, the fanatic, the hincha¹, hope and love for the world sport, the beautiful game, and nostalgia for the days where fútbol really was the sport of the people, before capitalism ruined everything: Marcelo Bielsa.
Growing up in a home where fútbol was a religion, there were always a few household names that were almost institutions. Probably after Maradona, the most respected name in fútbol was Marcelo Bielsa. As the daughter of survivors of a brutal dictatorship ordered and imposed by the US under the CIA Operation Condor², any “hero” in my house always passed the social justice purity test. Bielsa and his family are left wing in Argentina, and Bielsa’s actions are congruent with his politics, as he has notoriously and unabashedly redistributed his wealth to Leeds staff and his club in Argentina. I grew up in Uruguay, a place where the cult of celebrity doesn’t exist except ironically maybe when it comes to fútbol players, and specifically in a house where celebrity, money, fame, glitz and glamour have never been idolized. This is one of the values I’m most thankful to have inherited. And none of these are concepts that are idolized by Bielsa, in fact he is quite possibly the antithesis of all of this.
Marcelo Bielsa in his customary track suit and squat
A point of pride among his fans and disciples is the fact that he dresses very humbly, always in athletic wear. Not only is this indicative of his modest attitude, but I believe all managers should wear athleisure. There is nothing quite as disconcerting as a manager in a suit and a tie on the sidelines. Also, the athletic wear lets him maneuver into a deep squat at any time he gets nervous, which definitely got the attention of many a new observant to his antics in the Premier League. One thing to note is that “El Loco” (ironically, he may be the most sane Loco that has ever lived…) doesn’t do any of this to be trendy or hip. He’s literally had the same attitude and mannerisms since he was that dark haired, young, vibrant coach that brought Newell’s Old Boys their biggest glory years in Argentina.
He has a stadium named after him, the stadium of the team that holds him in the highest of honors and is home to not only Bielsa, but a little guy by the name of Lionel Messi, Newell’s. His disciples include coaches all over the world, most famously Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino. His coaching tree is massive. And none of the glory has ever gone to his head, he does not believe himself better than anyone. The stories about how he treats the whole staff at Elland Road like equals abound. His philosophy of humility and equality is intact.
Pochettino (L) and Guardiola (R) are two of Biesla’s most prominent disciples. image source
It didn’t take long for people to fall in love with him, and it also didn’t take long for British imperialism to rear its ugly head. Anti-Latino and South American bias is not new to Premier League or to England in general. British fútbol has a historical problem with discrimination of foreigners. For a long time, English players only played in England and only very few foreigners were signed and allowed to flourish in top flight English fútbol, and even fewer foreign coaches were hired. British fútbol has never been known for being beautiful or tactical, and only in England was it considered the best in the world. It wasn’t until they “opened the borders” so to speak that England started to enter the international fútbol conversation in terms of worldwide best of all time quality fútbol. Some of this phenomenon is still leftover in how Brits view foreigners, especially from the Global South, despite the fact that most of the stars in Premier League and most of the best current managers are not British.
Upon seeing all the hype built around this South American peasant, the critics wasted no time coming after Bielsa not for his work, not for his tactics, but for what is in their eyes a lack of ability to speak English, and more specifically equating this with any level of intelligence. First of all, this is a blatant xenophobic sentiment. One’s ability, or lack thereof, to speak just one of the many languages in the world has no correlation with how smart one is or isn’t. Secondly, Bielsa DOES speak English, he chooses to have a translator because he wants to make sure all of his sentiments are expressed as best as possible, and at times he’s even corrected his translator on air. Not that it matters whether he does or doesn’t, it would have no bearing on his brilliance and his accomplishments speak for themselves. I’d love to know how many languages these detractors speak. Fútbol is a universal language and one need not speak English of all colonizing languages to be great at what one does. It is shameful that such a great opening weekend was attempted to be tarnished by envious xenophobes, but alas, we should be used to it by now.
I look forward to a whole season of Bielsa Ball, Bielsa parties, and I will root for Bielsa in every game except two this season. In Bielsa we trust.
[1] hincha — Ríoplatense Spanish word which is really untranslatable, but meaning “fan,” “fanatic” and also implying a feeling of belonging.
[2] Operation Condor — Operation which instilled brutal dictatorships in a large part of Latin America in the 70s and 80s.
