Micah Richards has suggested that Leeds United fans still tell him almost every single day how much they love Marcelo Bielsa as he highlighted his sacking as the key moment behind the club’s demise.
Richards was speaking to Sky Sports after Leeds were relegated from the Premier League on the final day of the season. It was always going to be a huge task for the Whites to stay up. But what they served up against Tottenham was nothing short of embarrassing.
The inquest can officially now begin. But this has been on the cards for much longer than just this season.
Micah Richards shares what Leeds fans tell him about Marcelo Bielsa all the time
Leeds has been a club without a direction for much of the last 18 months. There was talk of a plan being in place when Marcelo Bielsa was sacked. And there was optimism that Jesse Marsch may be able to take the team forward in his first full season.
But most of the key decisions have been incorrect since Bielsa departed. And Micah Richards suggested that letting the Argentinian go cost Leeds as they now prepare for the Championship.
“No, I don’t think so,” he told Sky Sports, when asked if Sam Allardyce could stay. “I think Leeds’ biggest problem was getting rid of Bielsa. We can talk about looking back, but the way in which he was loved in the city – obviously, I’m from Leeds – I hear it from Leeds fans all the time, pretty much every single day.
“And then they went to a style of play. Jesse Marsch implemented his style of play, tweaked little bits and then they went from a high-pressing, high energy team to a low-block under Gracia. All that they’ve been working to, they’ve completely changed. And then, you bring Big Sam in. You know how Big Sam plays. They’ve had too many different systems in a too short a time.”
Bielsa’s tenure was not perfect towards the end. It is hard to argue with those who believe that Leeds were heading towards relegation had he stayed.
And there are few guarantees that Bielsa would have stayed on beyond last season. But the end result has proved to be the same – just a year later.
Had we gone down and kept Bielsa, we would have at least had the belief that Leeds would make a swift return and learn the lessons from their previous stay in the Premier League.
Leeds are now returning to the second tier with no director of football and no manager. There are also questions over the ownership.
Much like the performance against Tottenham, it is chaos at Leeds. And it is not exactly clear when the embarrassment is going to stop.
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