I think this is possibly the biggest sign yet that Marcelo Bielsa has fully embraced living in Britain.
I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up eschewing his mate tea for a cup of Yorkshire Tea any day now. Bielsa, rather bizarrely has been talking about British values in the lead up to this weekend’s game with Charlton Athletic.
Speaking in his press conference yesterday, Bielsa said that:
“Everyone wants to win. But I think that the supporters in England prefer to win in the correct way & not at all costs. But football is trying to make you not think like that.”
This to me is basically him continuing to cover his back over the whole Spygate affair, which is being brought up once again this week by people on social media after Leeds were awarded the FIFA Fair Play Award for their part in the game against Aston Villa towards the end of last season.
Now I know that I do not speak for everyone here when I say this, and this shouldn’t come as a surprise to regulars on this board who have seen me disagree with Bielsa in the past, but I’m not sure Bielsa has got this one right.
I’m not exactly calling for a return to the ‘dirty Leeds’ days like we had under Don Revie. I’m a fan of physical football, but even I know that there is no way we’d be able to get away with the sort of stuff that the players used to pull back in the 1970s.
But given how excited we were at the prospect of promotion last year, and how we came so close only to have it torn away from us in such heart-breaking fashion, I’m not sure I’m quite in position to throw in the towel and say that we have to do things ‘the right way’. For me, so long as we get the three points, I don’t care if we have to do things in an ‘ungentlemanly manner’ from time to time.
What about you? Are you a ‘win at all costs’ kind of fan? Or are you like me and think that so long as you get the three points at the end of the day, how you get them doesn’t matter.