Leeds fans have got to know Jamie Ralph as the voice behind the Newell’s Old Boys English language Twitter account over the last few years. Ralph actually supports Tottenham, not Leeds, falling in love with Newell’s after Mauricio Pochettinho took over as Spurs manager. When describing the mood around Newell’s this season, a note of caution halts his optimism. “Things are looking up for now, but you never know with Newell’s,” he says. “We’re playing on Sunday and things could be bad again.” Maybe that’s the Spurs in him, or maybe he’s spent too much time chatting to Leeds fans.

Things remained good for Newell’s on Sunday, beating Atletico Tucaman 4-0 for the third win of their opening five matches of the season. They are playing in the Copa de la Liga, one of South America’s many convoluted competitions, scheduled over the first half of the season. Trying to understand Argentina’s competitions and fixture list is one of Ralph’s biggest challenges while supporting Newell’s from his home in Ireland. He does an admirable job trying to explain the tournament’s format — 28 teams split into two groups of fourteen, followed by the top four teams in each group qualifying for a knockout stage, and a place in next season’s Copa Libertadores going to the champion — before giving up. “I don’t know,” he says. “To be honest, the Argentine league system is changing every year. It’s the hardest thing to follow in the world. Generally you only find out what the tournament is about two weeks before it starts.”

A place in the Copa Libertadores is a big prize for Newell’s, who haven’t competed in South America’s equivalent to the Champions League since 2014. Javier Sanguinetti is the new boss they hope can take them back there after former Marcelo Bielsa disciple Fernando Gamboa was one of four managers to have a go last season.

“That tells you it has not been very good recently,” says Ralph. “I think we’re going through a period of transition. The squad at the end of last season was very stale and large. A lot of legendary players, older players, have retired now. Maxi Rodriguez is gone. Ignacio Scocco is gone. We made quite a few signings over the summer. We brought in seven or eight players. Five or six of them have gone straight into the first eleven.”

Recruitment has been a source of discontent for Newell’s fans in recent seasons. The club were effectively being Cellino’d, selling off their young talent on the cheap and replacing them with obscure imports and players from the lower leagues, hunting the Argentinian equivalents of Nicky Ajose. As the new signings struggled and Newell’s stagnated, their sold-off prospects progressed. Lisandro Martinez made one senior appearance before being sent on loan and then sold to Defensa y Justicia, where he was named in the league’s Team of the Season before being sold for a profit to Ajax. He is now being linked with a transfer to Barcelona.

“It’s been so frustrating to see teams beat us with players we used to have in our academy,” Ralph says. “Last year, and the year before, we were suddenly bringing in players from the lower league, which is called the B, to replace those young players. You’re just thinking, why are we signing players from Belgrano? Why are we signing players from Quilmes? We’re in the Primera Division. And they weren’t very good. Last season was terrible and we had a defence that was propped up by a lot of these poor players.

“The new manager, Sanguinetti, seemed to identify that was an issue, and he’s brought in a higher calibre of player. But to a lot of Newell’s fans there is a sense of unknown as well about them. We brought in a defender called Willer Ditta from a team called Junior in Colombia. He would have played in the Copa Libertadores, which we haven’t done for many years, but we’re still not watching the Colombian League week in, week out, so I wouldn’t be able to make a comparison between the standard of the Colombian league and the standard of the Argentinian league. In saying that, in the first four games he’s been fucking outstanding.

“We brought back a player who started at Newell’s and left when he was younger and played in Europe, called Lionel Vangioni. He played for AC Milan actually and played for River Plate. And he’s been really good as well, and he’s gone straight into the team. And then there’s been a guy called Armando Mendez, who again would have played in the Libertadores for Nacional in Uruguay, one of the top teams, but we didn’t know a lot about him. It’s hard to make a judgement. If you’re playing for one of the top teams in Uruguay or Colombia, how are you going to be in one of the mid-table teams in Argentina? But he’s been quite good as well. They’ve certainly been better than the signings we made last season from the lower leagues in Argentina.”

A change in chairman as well as manager has helped improve the mood. There is no private ownership of clubs in Argentina, so democratic elections are held every few years to decide who runs the clubs. “This is one of the reasons I love Argentine football and I follow them,” Ralph says. Ignacio Astore, who worked as a doctor at the club under Bielsa, won the vote in September after elections were postponed twice due to the pandemic. Ahead of the day of voting, Astore’s car was attacked. The brother of his rival, Cristian D’Amico, had shots fired at his house.

“The last owners were in place for at least the previous five years, if not more. Fans hated them. They went for re-election in October and an opposition candidate, Dr Ignacio Astore, won the elections. He has recruited this new manager and overseen the recruitment of some of these players. It’s still early days, but certainly from an outside point of view the calibre of signing has been a bit higher in the last window than it was before. But the finances and transfers are so erratic in Argentina, clubs don’t have money. You’ve just got to do what you can. We just have to see how it goes.”

Now we’ve mentioned Bielsa. As he’s out of work, when will we start hearing stories about him returning to his boyhood club, to end his career back where it started?

“So many fans want it,” Ralph says. “So many fans in Argentina will be saying, ‘God, Bielsa please return.’ I don’t want him to return as manager. But I’d be happy to see him have a role in the club. And I think a lot of other fans agree with that.

“From my point of view, he’s done enough. He’s already given Newell’s enough. He gave us three titles and the stadium is named after him. He doesn’t need another opportunity. He doesn’t owe Newell’s anything.” ⬢