Enda McEvoy: Journey or destination? The answer should be obvious
A mural of former Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa is displayed on the side of a building in the city.Â
So adios, then, Marcelo Bielsa. Isaac Newton was right. In the end gravity will always make the apple fall and bonk you on the head.
The ghastly injury list, the second-lowest wage bill in the Premier League, the great manâs inability to abandon his principles and refit the house to stop the leaks. Maybe the real question wasnât so much why Leeds â still fielding too many of the players Bielsa had inherited in the Championship - were struggling but rather why they hadnât already been relegated.
That he got them promoted, and that they dazzled for much of their first season back in the top flight, was only the half of it. The best managers make supporters feel proud of their teams, not so much because of tangibles like silverware but because of intangible tangibles like energy and honesty and application and attitude and brotherhood.
So why get worked up about trophies when there were murals to Bielsa and there were Bielsa socks and the Wetherby branch of Costa Coffee he patronised became a kind of mini Lourdes for the faithful? The night Leeds returned to the PL one supporter went out for a celebratory drink and came home with a tattoo of Bielsaâs face on his thigh. As you do.
No doubt it seemed entirely logical to yer man at the time. It still seems entirely logical now.
Bielsa allowed Leeds fans to dream again. It is a rare gift and it prompts a return to one of the eternal conundrums of sporting life. Destination or journey? Bearing in mind that only a few teams can win a trophy each year, and that only a few more can aspire to do so, what can we realistically ask for as supporters?
Following, say, the Longford or Westmeath footballers may be less glamorous than following Kerry, yet in terms of enjoyment it is scarcely night versus day. Think about it. When your county plays in the eternal shadow of the past and when success is measured in only one currency, can Kerry fans ever experience a more pleasurable emotion than deep satisfaction? Mild frustration is surely an all too frequent outcome.
At least supporters of Westmeath and Longford live within the means of their expectations. Whatâs more, come the opening round in Leinster their guys may beat one of the myriad neighbours in some clash of the midland titans. Hey presto, the year is a success.
On a related note, how would Liverpool fans view Jurgen Klopp if heâd never won anything at Anfield? Hereâs that estimable young man Pat Nugent, who has appeared here before and who ruminates deeply about Liverpool FC when heâs not ruminating deeply about the Tipp hurlers.
Turns out that Pat had loved Kloppâs Borussia Dortmund and âseeing his yellow arrows run at teams in those days. Plus he seemed like a decent skin.â Mainly, though, Pat wanted to watch Klopp produce a team in red that was exciting. Nothing less. Nothing more.
âTo be honest I had given up on the idea of Liverpool ever competing with the petro clubs. I never expected to see them win the league again in my lifetime, not to mention a Champions League. My patience with Liverpool had gone because they bored me. Klopp has never bored me. He made me interested in football again. If heâd never won anything I donât know when my patience would have run out. But Iâm fairly sure that Iâd first have run out of patience defending him to the many many fans who see trophies as the only sign someone is doing a good job.âÂ
Pat adds that he works with a Leeds fan who last week was going around like someone dealing with a bereavement. Makes sense.
Hereâs another one for you. Suppose Roman Abramovich fails to sell Chelsea, who go bust and are demoted to League Two? Dramatic stuff, but after all the fuss and the frothing it wouldnât actually spell the end of existence for the club or their supporters.
Chelsea doesnât need another trophy or another big European night at the Bridge. As champions of the world there are no lands left for them to conquer, not on this planet anyway.
Just look at the many pluses of life on the bottom rung of the league ladder. No more ennui. No more having to complain about a misfiring strike force that only cost ÂŁ280m. And then thereâd be all the adventures ahead of them.
New and exciting away days! The inevitable improvement in their English geography! Gauging the wetness of Tuesday nights in Stoke, Scarborough and Shrewsbury! Comparing the quality of the chicken balti pies at Meadow Lane, the Memorial and the MKM! Complaining about a misfiring strike force that only cost ÂŁ280,000!
Once expectations were recalibrated it would be no end of fun. It is, by the by, a fact that in terms of interest and attendances English football hasnât been as healthy in its second, third and fourth flights for decades, which goes some way to explaining the vibrant nature of this seasonâs FA Cup. So thereâd be that too.
As for Bielsa and Leeds, they were eventually broken by a league gamed against them. They were always going to be. But what of it? The apple fell but the bruise will heal and the memories will endure.
He allowed them to dream. He made them get tattoos. His departure threw them into mourning. Most managers could only dream of such an epitaph.
Journey or destination? The answer should be obvious.
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The one good thing to be said about losing all faith in continental and global sporting bodies is that every once in a while they can go and pleasantly surprise you.
Thus it was this week with Fifa and Uefa. Common humanity demanded sanctions against Russia. Hearteningly and, yes, astonishingly, the duo rose to the occasion.
They werenât the only ones. The Russian Grand Prix is no more. Motorsport UK has banned drivers from that country from competing in Britain.
Such was the backlash to the International Paralympic Committeeâs decision to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete as neutrals at the Winter Paralympics, moreover, that they u-turned within 24 hours. The situation in the athletesâ village was described as âuntenableâ if a ban wasnât implemented.
Odious dictators of whatever stripe invariably have their useful idiots, of course, and Vladimir Putin has a great pal in Bernie Ecclestone. Bernie, who three years ago declared that Vlad had ânever done anything that isnât doing good things for peopleâ, popped up after the invasion of Ukraine to deplore the great unwashed being nasty to his buddy (âhow can anyone else judge exactly what is happening today?â).
Just for good measure he added: âIf there is a Russian driver in F1, what does it have to do with Russia fighting a war? There is no relationship there. The Russian athletes have nothing to do with this conflict. They are not part of it and they have never been part of it. They just happen to be Russian.âÂ
In a way heâs right. Through no fault of their own Russian sports people have become collateral victims. Someone even slightly less thoughtless than Bernie Ecclestone, or perhaps someone blessed with a smidgin of decency and cop-on, would have realised that through no fault of their own Ukrainian non-sports people have become far more than mere collateral victims.
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Stairway to HeavenÂ
Beat Dublin for the first time since Larry Stanley was a minor. Okay, everyone beats Dublin these days. But still.
Two tries on his debut against Italy. A poll topping performance.
Brought on a terrible goalKepa for the Wembley shootout, then in midweek found himself grilled about the invasion of Ukraine. Not what heâd signed up for.
Set to field his smallest Cheltenham team since 2005 because heâs targeting Aintree instead. You may be able to guess why.
