'A real jerk' - Leeds United chief on his big change and documentary watched by Whites squad - YEP 5/2/23

Jesse Marsch’s Leeds United side are going for gold at Nottingham Forest today, backed by a viewing of a USA success story at the 2008 Olympic Games.

Lee Sobot

American head coach Marsch will take in his 25th game in charge of Leeds in this afternoon's clash at The City Ground as the Whites boss approaches his one year anniversary at Elland Road. Marsch was appointed at the end of last February in replacing Marcelo Bielsa after the Argentine was sacked with Leeds hovering dangerously above the drop zone.

Nearly one year on, Leeds are only outside of the bottom three on goal difference but with two games in hand and Marsch says he is confident of forthcoming progress as he uses a variety of methods in an attempt to get the best out of his squad.

In the build-up to today's clash at Forest, Marsch had his men watch The Redeem Team this week, a documentary which tells the story of the US men's basketball team's successful pursuit of gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics after their awful display at the Athens games of 2004. Marsch was still a player at the time and says he has made big changes personally in a bid to be the best leader that he can.

Asked if he had been able to put his own stamp on his team nearly one year after his arrival, Marsch pondered: "Maybe that'll be more appropriate to talk about at the year mark than now. And hopefully at the year mark we have more points because I think that's the only thing that's lagging behind a little bit.

"We need to now find a way in league matches to put ourselves where we believe we should be in the table and I'm confident, very confident that we will do that. Where I sit right now, I probably sound maybe a little different than I have in the last 11 months and it's because I feel different and there's been a lot of hard work to try to get the needle to move. But now we feel we feel like we're on the right path."

Quizzed about taking inspiration from literature and leadership books and assessing his own core leadership skills as a manager compared to when he was a player, Marsch reasoned: "When I was a player, I was a cutthroat winner, that's all I cared about.

"I could be a real jerk on the pitch, because I only cared about winning. Really, I mean, really. And as I became a manager and a leader, I realised I had to be more about development and I had to develop more soft skills and I had to develop relationships that were going to lead to players being able to trust and commit to the processes that I wanted to create. I realised it relatively early.

"I was always the guy in the locker room who cared about the camaraderie of the team, but on the pitch all I cared about was winning. Losing. to me, it just hurts and sometimes I can't think straight after games because it's so painful. But I've learned as a leader that it's more important. I think I put that in a book, I was like there's a lover and a human were the two types that I was sort of a combination of.

"Even this week, I had the guys watch The Redeem Team which is a documentary on the 2008 Olympic gold medal basketball team in China and we talked about that and we talked about the lessons to be learned. We're different than Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.

"It's a different group here and we have a different type of team and it's a different competition and everything. But I'm just always trying to think of ways to push buttons to make our players into the players I know that they can be and so it requires creativity, it requires openness in relationships, it requires intelligence, it requires commitment.

"You have to try to do the job in a way that is reflective, reflective of yourself, but in ways that can help individuals improve and commit and get better. It was good. The guys are in a good place."