Leeds United have effected quite the remarkable turnaround in the past two years. A far cry from the club that languished halfway down the table then, the Peacocks are now a well oiled unit that looks too good for life in the Championship.
In fact, if the league were to be called off right now, Leeds would win by the slimmest of margins. A 2-0 victory over Huddersfield ensured that Leeds surpassed West Bromwich Albion to regain pole position.
Amidst this sea change, fans have never lost sight of the man who made it all possible: maverick manager Marco Bielsa.
The fiery taskmaster from Argentina is famous the world over for extracting the last drop of potential from every one of his teams. After his exploits with Bilbao, Bielsa has once again caught lightning in a bottle with the Yorkshire club. Clearly, it his work ethic that transformed a promising, underachieving squad into what it is today.
Quite natural, then, that the Elland Road faithful look upon the man with devotion and worship. The adoration bestowed upon him is refreshing in this modern era of fickle loyalties. To the fans, the man can do no wrong; they treat with affection every insignificant action of his.
And, with the current lock-down in the UK, supporters have resorted to some far-out methods just to keep tabs on their favourite manager.
Bielsa has a ‘follower’
A splendid example of this adoration emerged in the form of a video on social media today.
In the video, one can see Bielsa taking a vigorous stroll in Wetherby, lost in thought and completely oblivious to the person behind him.
To be fair, the lad stalking him did keep a fair bit of respectful distance. All throughout this incident, he made sure to not disturb the gaffer in any way. Instead, he only observed his actions with mild amusement.
I'm not a stalker or anything but I felt it important we keep up to date on how the boss man is getting on. Now it looks like he is waving on imaginary traffic so I'd say he's happy or going mad 😂 #lufc pic.twitter.com/1iPTKJbnhe
— Klich bait (@KlichBait) April 16, 2020
Fans on Twitter loved the video, though they did express concern about social distancing norms.
It turned out that another person also clicked a photo of the gaffer, pondering deeply while on his walk.
I got a pic on the same walk 😂. He was clearly devastated that the Wetherby Whaler was still closed pic.twitter.com/cCUjA1OXcA
— steven (@stecochrane) April 16, 2020
All in all, fans are now more intrigued than ever about their hero despite the current circumstances.