My run-in with maverick Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa

At the time it felt like an innocent question. Last Tuesday evening I was stood on the pitch at Loftus Road after seeing Queens Park Rangers beat Leeds United 1-0 in the Championship. Marcelo Bielsa, the legendary Leeds manager and the man they call El Loco, was giving his post-match press conference, surrounded by reporters and cameras.

Leeds had lost the game, their sixth defeat in 11, causing them to lose their grip at the top of the table. So I asked Bielsa if he was worried Leeds were running out of energy at this crucial stage of the season. I had no idea of the reaction my enquiry was about to unleash. “Your question does not have any basis,” Bielsa said through his interpreter. “It is clear that you don’t know what you’re talking about, because if there is something that this team doesn’t lack, it is energy.”

Fair enough. As a reporter you would always prefer a strong answer to a weak one, someone pushing back against you rather than ducking your question. The next morning I wrote a story about it, looking at the bigger issue of whether Bielsa’s teams burn out in the second half of the season, looking back at examples from his career in Argentina, Spain and France. And I thought that was the end of the matter.

But it was not. Clearly the issue was still alive in Bielsa’s mind. Because on Friday evening Leeds played West Bromwich Albion, and Bielsa referred to my question in his programme notes. “The energy levels of the side was questioned, which I found bemusing,” he wrote.

Out on the pitch, Leeds proved Bielsa right. They destroyed West Brom 4-0 with a thrilling performance bursting with attacking energy. And when Bielsa was asked again about the issue afterwards, he referred to what I asked as “an illegitimate question”.

Sure enough, gleeful tweets flooded in from Leeds fans. And while I was surprised that one forgettable question was still talked about four days later, I was blown away by the football that had proved me wrong.

Yours,

Jack Pitt-Brooke

Football correspondent