Leeds United's unintended Marcelo Bielsa consequence and a 49ers Enterprises summer priority - YEP 9/3/23

Leeds United's first season of Premier League football under Marcelo Bielsa so exceeded expectations that the Whites are still suffering an unintended consequence.

By Graham Smyth

During the wilderness years, particularly in League One when all that was craved was a return to a stage befitting a club of this size, the idea of staying up by a whisker after a post-promotion season of struggle would have been quite palatable.

Even if the 2020/21 campaign had played out that way, few could have grumbled, because anything other than survival cannot reasonably be demanded of a newly-promoted club, particularly one that existed for so long outside the Premier League that it had to learn to fend for itself financially, against others feasting on the fat of parachute payments. Leeds were walking into a whole new world when they won the Championship title and although there was a hope that they would dish out a few bloody noses, no one would have felt hard done by with a finish just above the drop zone.

The problem Leeds have now, the problem they have had since the 2021/22 season began, is that Bielsa and his football inspired, captivated and let fans, who for so long survived on crumbs of joy, not only have their Premier League cake but eat it. Supporting the team that everyone wanted to watch and pundits fell over themselves to talk about, even if some of what was said held no understanding, was intoxicating. Leeds United were back and they were brilliant.

Playing as they did and recording such famous results as that 10-man win at Manchester City, the 3-0 whipping of Aston Villa away or the 3-1 victories over Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur made them irresistible to the media, so just how proud must the fans have felt, albeit watching on screens during football's Covid-enforced separation from crowds.

That factor has to be considered too in the difficulty of what came next, for having been shut out of a remarkable season, supporters were salivating at the prospect of tasting the same thing in person. And then, instead of cake, they got crumbs. Leeds, in essence, got their first two seasons the wrong way round because the far more natural order would have been a perfectly acceptable lower table finish, even 17th, followed by an ascent to midtable in the second term. No one would have been unhappy with that.

As it turned out, for reasons still being debated to this day but best summed up as collective failure, Bielsa and his small squad could not fell the lions and Goliaths a second time. Presenting the Argentine, now not even Leeds’ last coach, as any kind of present day issue for Leeds might seem reductive but as long as his football remains the last consistent source of joy for supporters then it will retain relevance in any discussion.

This third top flight season going the same way as the second has raised the question - what do Leeds fans really want? Is it merely to watch their team play in the Premier League? That doesn't feel sufficient right now. Is it the comfort of lower midtable top flight existence? That might be satisfactory, but not necessarily fulfilling. Or is it to go to a game full of anticipation because they know the football on display will be breathtaking? Once that became the reality for Leeds supporters, was anything else ever really going to suffice?

A full calendar year has not allowed many to move on from Bielsa and what he did at Elland Road, but it has given an all-too-real insight into the 'Bielsa's widows' tag given to those he inspired at Athletic Bilbao, Chile and Marseille.

In that context some of the points made by supporters this week in the light of a season ticket price increase were understandable. When the football isn't delivering the high that it used to - that might be Javi Gracia's aim but it's not his remit and nor is it in the power of the board right now - then supporters will start to look around at the rest of their matchday experience in search of enjoyment or even just comfort. Some of the facilities at Elland Road are, as club chiefs have recognised, distinctly lacking in this regard. There is a desire to renovate, improve and extend the stadium, Angus Kinnear has spoken of it at length, the 49ers have spoken of little other than matchday experience, and it is one controllable factor, one tool in the hands of the ownership, to start bringing a little joy back.

The question for the board isn't so much what do Leeds fans want, but what can we give them? The football Bielsa played lies outside the realm of possibility for Andrea Radrizzani or the 49ers, yet for supporters still longing for something that has gone, something to look forward to could be hugely positive, something besides utility bills that would really justify the price hike in the eyes of the many. Concrete plans, if not concrete itself.

Reuniting fans with some of the pride they felt in the stadium during Bielsa's pomp has to be a priority. This season can't be re-written, it can only be rescued, but come the summer, in whatever division they find themselves, Leeds United must start afresh in their quest to make football fun again, if Bielsa's widows are to love again.