A new dawn will rise on Leeds United today if the club executes its aim in announcing Marcelo Bielsa’s successor.
Jesse Marsch is being widely touted as the new face to step into the breach at Elland Road with the challenge of keeping the Whites in the Premier League with 12 games to play.
Whoever it may be, Bielsa’s successor faces the same challenge any replacement has when they follow an icon, a legend of the terraces.
Everything they do will be compared to how Bielsa did it. The Argentine set the bar so high with everything he did, that has become the benchmark.
Such is the level of emotion tied with his sacking, less than 24 hours ago, supporters will still be mourning Bielsa, and everything he stood for, when the new appointment is made. That’s a raw mix.
How can a supporter possibly hope to accept a new head coach when their previous love’s era is still warm on the surgeon’s table?
It’s a tall order and Leeds have no choice, but to press on. The countdown for Leicester City is already underway and they have a season to save. The bullet will be bitten and fingers will be crossed.
It’s not only the supporters the new man will have to win over. The playing squad will also be, subconsciously or not, comparing everything they do with how Bielsa did it for nearly four years.
Bielsa’s obsessive attention to detail across all aspects of his job will again set high expectations for what the players have become used to.
How the new head coach performs in those first few meetings, analytical sessions, one-to-ones, training sessions and matches in the dugout will be critical in getting the squad onside.
For some, there may be a welcome edge taken off the intensity in training or in the hoops which must be jumped through before returning from injury or in a newly personal arm-around-the-shoulder approach.
United’s new man at the helm must set the tone early and put his own stamp on matters from the start.
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