Bielsa, Buckets and Bilbao

At the end of 2009, a name was needed to adorn the stadium that sits in the middle of Independence Park in Rosario, Argentina. The selected name would have to be significant, so it was chosen from a selection of club alumni including Lionel Messi, Mauricio Pochettino, Gabriel ‘Batigol’ Batistuta, names worthy of placement upon the front of a stadium that already included the Diego A. Maradona South Stand.

Newell’s Old Boys was the club whose stadium needed a name, and they quite clearly have a long list of club legends. But Marcelo Alberto Bielsa Caldera is admired by fans of football the world over, and that of all available choices Newell’s stadium now bears his name only serves to prove that.

Three years ago, in a bar sitting on one of the hairpin bends of the River Nervión in south-eastern Bilbao, Spain, five friends had an idea to start a fans’ group dedicated to Marcelo Bielsa. Fanaticism for Bielsa stretches all the way up to the highest level of the sport. We’ve all seen the clips of the most prominent managers in world football drooling over him and, let’s be honest, we love it. If Pep Guardiola calling the Leeds manager “the best coach in the world” didn’t make you fizz inside, then you need to send your £1.99 Argentina flag back to Sports Direct. No doubt your own personal football idols list is great, but I would bet that on a lot of your idols’ lists is Marcelo Bielsa, and I would bet that he is probably somewhere near the top, too. Now he’s here at Leeds; with a bucket instead of a cool-box, granted, but he’s here nonetheless.

“Bielsa lifts the team to a place beyond where you can imagine”

Going back to the fans group in Spain just mentioned — peñas (pen-yas), as they’re known — are ubiquitous throughout the country and their importance cannot be understated. The general rule of thumb is that groups of hermandades, or brotherhoods, will decide to create a peña, usually in homage to a particular person, and then officially register their peña with the the club. For example, there is the Raúl ‘El Gran Capitán’ Peña, in tribute to the Real Madrid legend, while the Peña Johan Cruyff was founded back in 1998 as a thank you to the man who changed the history of F.C. Barcelona forever. Cruyff’s comments on Leeds are biblical: “Give [Leeds] the ball and they will make you dance … they run, battle and believe in themselves.” Under Neil Warnock, Steve Evans, Dave Hockaday (there are more names, but I’m under a word limit) these words caressed us, they cared for us, they reminded us of what we were. Now, with Bielsa and his army of a technical team at the helm, it seems they have finally come back to do the most important thing that words do: they have come back to describe us. It’s about time.

The Peña Marcelo Bielsa in Bilbao is not of the same scale as Cruyff’s, but Bielsa would not want it to be. He is, as we can see from his mannerisms after only a few weeks in Leeds, a humble yet unique — see the blue bucket — man. Words like ‘surprised’ and ‘humbled’ are apt, as they were the words chosen by the Basque supporters group when I asked them what Bielsa’s reaction was when they asked his permission to name their recently birthed peña after him. Their logo illustrates the Athletic Club Bilbao badge in the colours of Bielsa’s home team, Newell’s Old Boys, mixed with an outline of Bielsa shouting his famous ‘Newells, Carajo!’ (‘Fucking come on, Newell’s!’). Luckily, here in Leeds, we haven’t yet got a peña that illustrates the Newell’s Old Boys badge acronym. Work it out.

I asked the group about Bielsa’s football at Bilbao. “In the moment that your players understand the style and vision [of Bielsa] the team will become unstoppable … he lifts the team to a place beyond where you can imagine.” Well, that has already been proven by Leeds’ recent league performances — Stoke, Derby and Norwich fans will vouch for that.

His post-final press conference with Bilbao is historic

The peña listed many fond memories of Bielsa at Athletic Club Bilbao, most notably their famous cup Europa League run in 2012, when they made it to the final but lost to league rivals Atlético Madrid. They beat the red side of Manchester on the way — the footage is on YouTube and I urge you to check it out. The football was high-pressured, chaotic, yet stringently organised; it was addictive, exciting, explosive and against ‘that’ team, making it even sweeter.

Any non-football fan should be subjected to videos of Bielsa’s football to cure them and make them fans of the sport. It is sure to work. Despite losing the final, the peña were quick to point out that it wasn’t only the football that enchanted them towards Bielsa, but his typically long and spellbinding speeches. The post-final press conference is historic. Bielsa took full responsibility for the way the club finished the season, saying he was “truthfully embarrassed and ashamed for having disappointed the fans of Athletic Club Bilbao.” Between apologies, he went on: “…nothing surprised us, we prepared for everything [and lost], how am I not to feel responsible for this? It was nothing to do with ‘oh [the players] didn’t listen to me’, my players did absolutely everything I wished they would do, you can’t upset a community [of fans] like this. I’m sorry.” I wasn’t there, and I have no connection to Athletic Club Bilbao, but I still want to cuddle him.

Admiration for Bielsa extends further than Spain. Journalists from all over the world have attended his press conferences in England, and one fan travelled from the delights of Argentina to the delights of Derby, just to shake hands with his idol. As did the Unión Deportiva Las Palmas official photographer, Claudio D’Agostino, at our pre-season friendly; he gave his camera over to his friend for a picture with Bielsa, not before showing off his arm, bearing a the glorious tattoo of Leeds United’s manager.

So the man whose name stands up against the greats of the game and brings a sense of joy, wisdom and pure admiration to all those involved in it is taking on the unique challenge of the Championship with our beloved Leeds. He has been quick to quash excitement, and this is not new; during his time in Bilbao he gave his own take on parable of The Tortoise and the Hare: “If you run ninety degrees around the garden it takes longer to get there but you don’t damage the flowers; unlike the man who got there quicker by running diagonally — he damaged all the flowers.” Pull up a bucket, and enjoy the fun. ◉

(This article was published in TSB 2018/19 issue 04 and is free to read as part of TSB Goes Latin.)