gurdev singh retweetledi
Marcelo,
When you came to manage Leeds United, the false dawns and false starts had become the norm. The brief moments of joy were exceptional respites during the decade-and-a-half away from the top-tier of English football - 'the banter years'.
The club had been unloved and uncared for by many managers and owners on the spiral down the football pyramid.
That is why - when you brought a seemingly inexhaustible amount of competence and passion - it was a revolution.
No one know what to expect before that first game of the season. And like before every first game of every new season, we all held our collective breath.
So when Mateusz Klich stabbed home that shot against Stoke on that sunny day in August 2018 - the Elland Road roar that preceded was an exclamation of disbelief as much as joy.
What followed was the best football any of us might ever see our team play in our lifetimes.
What many of us would give to go back and live it all again.
And how did you do it? Because you care.
You care passionately about every small detail, every small moment - because you know that even the tinniest component of a football club, is part of the foundation of the whole.
So you adjusted the position of electric sockets on the walls of Thorp Arch; a dirty boot print in the hall never happened again; and the players picked up rubbish for an hour, because their integrity and understanding of what the fans have to do pay to watch them, was as important to you, as their physical strength.
You watched a season's worth of games for every one of our opponents, studying them meticulously until you knew every strength, every weakness, and what tactical changes they would make depending on the game state.
You cared. You cared so much that your passion almost has its own gravity; it draws people in - and makes them care too.
You turned a mid-table Championship squad into a mid-table Premier League side - no one else could have done that.
But more than that - you turned #LUFC - one of the most hated teams in the UK - into what some pundits at the time called "everyone's second team" - by virtue of the most unbelievably exciting brand of football.
Every press conference was a philosophical lecture. You lambasted modern football, football authorities, the press, agents and everything else that makes a mockery of the beauty of this game.
But you always praised the fans, you always praised your players and you never, ever took credit.
And while others jumped at the opportunity to lap up the applause for the fruits of your labour, you never puffed proud. Embarrassed, you even had to be goaded into lifting the Championship trophy.
You have left every single manager that followed in your wake an impossible task. Your shadow lingers still.
You will be loved forever in this city in West Yorkshire of which your face and words adorn murals 10ft tall.
And we'll never forget how your lessons of hard work, love and passion and belief and hope, transformed our club.
Even when the entire establishment tried to prise you off that pedestal they had so begrudgingly put you on - during the spy gate scandal - you simply dismantled the narrative with a tactical masterclass we will never the see the like of again.
And you did it all in the most disarming way, while turning sport into art, and uplifting this community.
You have personally changed the trajectory of my life, and those of countless others I know. Thank you does not feel enough for the appreciation and gratitude we all feel. But it will have to do.
Vamos Bielsa, Vamos Leeds Carajo! We will never forget what you did for us!
Gracias Marcelo!
English
