Andrea Radrizzani and Victor Orta have made some mistakes in their time at Leeds United, and have admitted such, but the appointment of Marcelo Bielsa has not been one of them. He has transformed this team and this club over the last season. Despair has been replaced with hope and joy and there is now a genuinely positive feeling around the club. Elland Road is packed every week, Leeds shirts are worn with pride around the city and Leeds have a genuine chance at promotion, all because of Marcelo Bielsa. Leeds United fans have very quickly come to love Bielsa but it’s not just Leeds fans that love and respect ‘El Loco’, he is admired by some of the legends of the game too. Lets take a look at what some of them had to say.
Lets start with the Argentinian Alioski, Lionel Messi...
You can still come and work with him Leo, the Championship might be a bit tougher than playing Liverpool though.I did not have him as a coach, but he's a person I admire for what he did with Argentina, Chile and Athletic Bilbao. He is a coach with whom I would have liked to work.
Fellow Argentinan icon Diego Maradona hailed Bielsa due to the Basque only policy at Bilbao...
Marcelo created a team from scratch and reached two finals. Everyone is talking about Barca, but we have to recognise the game of the Bielsa team that has ridiculed twice Manchester United and its big stars.
The man many regard as the greatest of all time, Brazilian legend Pele tried to use his influence to get Bielsa to manage Santos in 2013 and specifically praised Bielsa's work at Chile...
There is a great opportunity to recruit Bielsa. I like it. He's a great coach. Everything shows that he was right to carry out the renewal process, with all these good results. He is a great coach. I know him and he is an excellent person.
When legendary Dutch player and manager Johan Cruyff thinks you play beautiful football then you know you are doing something right...
The most beautiful selection I have seen is that of Chile. Providing something more to supporters has always been one of our qualities, but I must admit that Chile has taken over. The team has already shown a lot of qualities and she has understood that even if the possibilities of a coronation are low, she has the opportunity to ensure that the public takes pleasure in seeing her play.
Three tim Champions League winning manager and France icon Zinedine Zidane went to Marseille to observe Bielsa...
It was a great experience. He is a coach who has an incredible experience of the highest level, someone very precise. This struck me. He is at the Commanderie from morning till evening. The advice of Marcelo Bielsa; 'Do not imitate anyone, stay on your line'. Marcelo Bielsa brought his method and results. He loves his players and he loves the players who made the history of football.
Rivalry aside, one of the greatest managers of all time, Alex Ferguson speaking after his side met Bilbao...
I admire his work because we see the emergence of a very good team from Bilbao. They are very determined and very organized and are inhabited by great confidence. This is the hallmark of their coach. He instilled these qualities in his players, " "It's a marvel to see them play this way. It's the best team in Bilbao I've seen in years. "In the second half, they played better than us and had a larger ball possession. They had three frank goal chances and after the second goal, we had to be content to defend, without being able to do much more.
We really are blessed!