I was kicked out of Leeds United training by Marcelo Bielsa and threw my bib on the floor, but it ‘broke the ice’ — Leeds United News 24/10/24

Will Butcher

In the last decade, there aren’t many bigger icons in Leeds United football than Marcelo Bielsa and Luke Ayling, but Patrick Bamford helped Ayling recall a spat between the two at Thorp Arch.

Marcelo Bielsa obviously earned legendary status during the three and a half seasons he was in charge of Leeds. Taking them back to the Premier League after 16 years in the wilderness with his style of play.

He turned Championship players into proven Premier League stars in that time. The likes of Ayling, Liam Cooper, Stuart Dallas and Patick Bamford might not have thought they’d have a career in the top tier.

But Bielsa got Leeds playing in such a way that it saw those players become Premier League stars, playing a key role in the 2020-21 season which saw The Whites finish as high as ninth in the Premier League table.

Bielsa is renowned for taking the Leeds players out to pick up rubbish and making them train two or even three times a day, installing beds at Thorp Arch so the players could stay there to sleep and train again.

His demands were high, as was the intensity in training. Ayling was a guest on Bamford’s My Mate’s A Footballer podcast this week, and the duo recalled when Bielsa removed Ayling from his training session.

“Every session, there would be one or two players he’d shout at but it was rarely ever Bill. This one time, it was Bill. He’s kept going, Marcelo wasn’t particularly happy this day so he was having a go quite strongly.

“He sent Bill inside, Bill wasn’t happy and threw his bib on the floor. Marcelo wasn’t happy and started shouting at Bill to come back and pick the bib up. Bill has come back to pick the bib up and give it to him.

“Then Marcelo started saying something to him. Obviously, Bill has a speech impediment so Bill was trying to get his words out and Marcelo was like saying ‘come on, come on’,” Bamford continued.

Ayling interjects: “he was like ‘speak, speak’.” Bamford continues: “Bill had to explain to the assistant he had a speech impediment and Marcelo looked at him and laughed a little bit and smiled, it broke the ice.”

Certainly, Ayling is not the only player to have a run-in with Bielsa. Ben White recently said Bielsa ordered him to train with the U21 side at Leeds, before bringing him into the side in place of Pontus Jansson.

Ayling of course, became one of the stalwarts of the Bielsa era. Of Bielsa’s 158 league games in charge, Ayling played 132 times with the odd injury or suspension the only reason it was not a full compliment.

This incident took place at the start of Bielsa’s reign and Ayling continued how he went in the next day, and went to Bielsa’s office and the two ironed things out with a big “cuddle” and never had a tiff again.

“I thought it would stop the b*llocking, I went to put the bib back on but he still sent me inside. We’re friends now again, can I continue training and he was like, no, go inside,” Ayling told Bamford’s podcast.

“He was one of the most amazing human beings. We had a tiff that day but I came back in the next day, went straight up to his office and we had a big cuddle.”