Leeds United Librarian

In 2019 #LUFC’s then manager Marcelo Bielsa sent a scout to watch Derby train ahead of their upcoming fixture. The scout stood on a public footpath and took a few notes. The modern equivalent of a dark ages witch hunt followed, spurred on by hyperbolic pundits. Keith Andrews accused Bielsa of not giving a damn and not adapting to the culture of England. In fact, Bielsa explained in a 45 minute impromptu press conference that he cared too much. In the extraordinary presser, Bielsa broke down a tactical analysis of Derby - showing that he had amassed such an unprecedented amount of information and statistics on them - that the training session the scout watched could give him no extra information that he didn’t already have. Bielsa explained that he sent the scout anyway because if he didn’t do everything he possibly could - within the rules - to help Leeds win, then he would feel irreconcilable guilt. And after spy gate had been investigated by the EFL - and Leeds were found to be in breach of the “spirit of the game” and fined £250,000 - Bielsa refused to let #LUFC pay and instead paid it out of his own pocket. What was that Keith Andrews said about Bielsa not giving a damn and lacking respect? Today, the ‘spirit of the game’ has never felt less vague. Was it in ‘the spirit of the game’ to drag Bielsa’s name through dirt on every show throughout the spy gate scandal? And where is the ‘spirit of the game’ now, with football club-owners-cum-charlatans taking fans for a ride on their get-rich-quick schemes of stripping a community’s cherished possession of its assets and selling to the highest bidder? Where is the spirit of the game in agent payments and state-funded sports-washing? Or in the ceaseless betting advertisements that ruin lives? Or Man City’s 115 charges and the PSR hypocrisy that fails to create a level playing field - PSRs sole reason for existence? Is VAR in the spirit of the game? Is making away supporters travel 100s of miles at midnight in the spirit of the game? I’m not sure I have ever seen, I’m not sure I’ll ever likely see, a more erroneous use of the term and law being applied to punish a club. Those few weeks in 2019 were bizarre. The media made an avalanche out of a snowflake and pundits and wannabe coaches got paid to lambast Bielsa from the rafters. And after hearing about how Marcelo has revolutionised the game wherever he went and was idolised by the world’s best coaches. And after seeing Leeds United become “everyone’s second team (for the first time in the club’s existence)”- these pundits and analysts finally had a reason to tear Bielsa down off that pedestal and they did so with relish. They talked of Bielsa in the scathing tones usually only reserved for war criminals. Yet his only crime was that he sent someone to stand on a public footpath and watch a football team train because if he didn’t he’d feel guilty. It was a ridiculous moment for the culture and the irony was compounded when Leeds and Bielsa won the FIFA Fair Play Award for letting Aston Villa score a goal in another bizarre story for another time. If anyone embodies ‘the spirit of the game’ it is Marcelo Bielsa - or at least, football would be lucky to embody his spirit. The Argentine will be back in the country this month as his Uruguay side play England. Tonight, Keith Andrews returns to Elland Road as manager of Brentford. A timely reminder of what Andrews’ said about Bielsa during spy gate ⤵️