Joe Cole fails Leeds United homework but he did get one thing right in Marcelo Bielsa 'myth' rant
Leeds United hero Marcelo Bielsa was the subject of scathing criticism after ex-Chelsea man Joe Cole did his ‘homework’ and the pundit was at least right about one thing.
“I think he’s a myth.” That’s what Joe Cole told The Rest Is Football about ex-Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa. “I’ve done my homework; he’s been managing for over 30 years. He’s won three Argentinian titles. He won the Olympics but that’s a youth tournament, and won the Championship with Leeds. Leeds fans won’t be happy but I have no plans on going there any time soon.”
Well he was right about one thing, Leeds fans are not happy. But that in itself should tell Cole something, because Leeds fans are not just demanding. They're brutal. They're unrelenting in their expectations. They do not suffer fools lightly. They can be quick to anger and slow to forgive. So while Cole did his homework, we can already mark it down because he hasn't thought deeply enough about this. He hasn't asked why Leeds supporters are still so in love with the Argentine, his personality, methods and what he did with a mid-table Championship team.
Had Cole really done his homework, he would have asked Leeds supporters or even those who played under Bielsa at Elland Road to challenge his 'myth' accusation. He might have called up Pep Guardiola and asked why the ex-Man City boss was in thrall to the Argentine's football.
Had he been prepared to look beyond Bielsa's Wikipedia page honours section, Cole could possibly have asked himself why the Uruguay coach ended up in each of his jobs. Why this particular manager didn't pick a project unless there was something in the club's history or culture that got under his skin. Or asked if Bielsa's choices really lent themselves to winning title after title. Did he ever take the easy route or the club with the biggest financial clout?
What is impossible for Cole to understand without doing a better job of his homework, is that for the people of Leeds, Chile, Athletic Bilbao or Marseille even, what Bielsa made them feel was so visceral that it cannot be described as anything other than real. The passion he reignited in Leeds is so far from a myth. He won the Championship with Leeds but he did it in the most remarkable style, playing the most aggressive attacking football. He won the Championship with Leeds and ended 16 years of EFL wilderness. He then took the Premier League by storm with a ninth-place finish, with pretty much the guts of that same mid-table second tier squad. Had it not been for recruitment inadequacy, who knows what he would have gone on to achieve at Elland Road. But what lingers long, long after his departure is the fact that he changed the way people think and feel about the game.
Interestingly, Cole also told The Rest is Football of his love for Mauricio Pochettino. "I love him. I love him. It’s really hard for me to say being a Chelsea man. He's got this way about him. You’ve got every American icon in the back … he just looked the part.”
Setting aside the fact that Cole's love of Pochettino sounds suspiciously based on vibes or something not so tangible, that's Bielsa disciple Mauricio Pochettino he's talking about. The same Mauricio Pochettino who has been managing for 17 years and won one French title - with PSG, the side with 12 of the last 14 Ligue 1 titles. We can all read Wikipedia pages, Joe. By Cole's own measure, is the USMNT boss not straying dangerously close to mythological territory?
In 2018 Cole was ready to embark on a coaching career. He penned a piece for Coaches' Voice, saying: "Soon, I’ll go from being an old player to being a young coach. But I’m ready for that. I’m ready to listen, learn and take everything in. I’ll make mistakes, but I’ll address them and come back. I’ll use all my experiences of dealing with pressure and injuries, but I won’t rely on just those. You have to look to the future, and what football is going to be like, rather than live in the past and what worked for you as a player."
By December 2025 he was finally ready to embark on a management career - in non-league if it had to be that way - having coached very briefly in Chelsea's academy and taken charge of Brentford Under 16s. “I’m ready. I’ll do it for sure. It’s just a case of the right opportunity," he told the Daily Mail. The TNT pundit is 44. Now Bielsa retired from playing at 25, so he had a head start, but within 10 years he had won the Argentinian top flight title with Newell's Old Boys. If Cole has any desire to out-do the 'myth' then he best get cracking. It shouldn't be too hard to do.