Bielsa orders Leeds players to collect rubbish for three hours
The recently-appointed Leeds manager wanted to get across to his players how difficult it is for the paying public to buy a ticket to watch them play.
Marcelo Bielsa, El Loco, continues to apply his own unconventional working methods and ideas to extract the best out a Leeds side who he hopes to get promoted back to the top flight. According to "The Guardian", the Argentine coach decided to teach his players a lesson about humility and privilege and gave them an unusual chore. Bielsa told his playing staff to go out and collect all of the rubbish from outside the team's Thorp Arch training complex.
Three hours' hard graft to pay for a match ticket
Biesa's idea was to make his players appreciate the efforts the paying public make every week to come to Elland Road to watch the team play - and he reasons the price of a match ticket is more or less equivalent to three hours' hard work collecting rubbish. That, is says, is the sort of effort which your average Leeds supporter has to do every week to afford to come and watch the match. "He wants good players, but he wants us to be good people as well", explained Kemar Roofe.
Leeds pre-season
Marcelo Bielsa never loses the ability to suprise with his motivational methods. The proof of that is there to see in the statistics gained from the pre-season which show that, on average, Leeds players have covered more distance running in their six summer friendlies than they did during most of last season, without "El Loco". Leeds brought their pre-season to a close with three wins (Forest Green Rovers, Guiseley and Las Palmas), two draws (York City and Southend) and just one defeat (Oxford).