A man who enjoys football and hopes that American players and coaches will find opportunities in the best leagues in the world, I would like Jesse Marsh to succeed Leeds United as manager. For the same reason I want Marsh to stop going out of his way to embarrass us.
Marsh got a job at Leeds in early March after sacking legendary Argentine manager Marcelo Bielsa from the club. If Leeds is looking for a change of personality, it has certainly succeeded. Bielsa, a famous obsessive and brooding strategist who was more brilliant than talking, was suddenly replaced by a cheerful American whose job seemed to bring some life and excitement to the squad. When Marsh was first hired, he admitted that his background and personality could bring some stigma with it, which he acknowledged would only be strengthened by popularity. Ted Lasso, An indescribably magical television show about an indomitable American soccer coach trying to inject some life and excitement into a lucky English soccer team. Marsh wisely distanced himself from the character during his first press conference, admitting that he had never seen the show, but then leaned towards the very stereotype of making the show.
“All I can say is that how I know how to do things is just to give everything, to give what I have, to believe in who I am, to believe in the people I work with and to try my best. We are there every day. “Marsh said. “And I’ve found that if you can do it effectively, you can be incredibly surprised at the human spirit and what you can achieve. So, from what I’ve heard, I think it sounds like Ted Lasso.”
This is the first time Marsh has said or done something that made me cry out loud, but it certainly won’t end. Just days after Marsh became his first game coach and saw his team lose 1-0 to Leicester City, he gathered all his players for a (easily filmed) post game talk:
A few weeks later, after a 4-0 home defeat to Manchester City, Marsh made a big show of acknowledging and dismissing home fans:
On the same day when Marsh was interviewed in his postgame, he spoke like a man who has won a game with only four goals, but not in any other way:
And now this week, as Leeds head into a tough game against Chelsea, continuing a three-game winless streak and sitting in the final relegation spot, Marsh has turned his Ted Lasso camouflage into 11. From ESPN:
“I have hundreds of quotes that I use at different times,” Marsh told reporters, adding that the likes of NBA icon Michael Jordan, former Chicago Bulls coach Phil Jackson and American football coach Great Vince Lombardy also inspired him.
“I try to think about who they fit in with and who we play football with. I love quotes, learning from people in the past. Sports statistics, historical statistics, whatever. The key is to understand which messages to use at the right time. ”
“I like the basketball culture in America,” Marsh added. “The way they integrate the inner city kids with university graduates and incredible mentors is amazing.
“I use things that resonate with me … there are presidents like historical figures, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, John F. Kennedy.”
ESPN
All this I must say: enough!
Jesse Marsh, you’re making us look bad. At best, you’re just like the restless Americans that everyone in the English media was interested in making fun of. Worst of all, you’re coming out as a performance dork who seems more concerned with smoothing out his own personal brand as an inspirational maven than actually winning a soccer game – a job that, fairly, Marsh Leeds has done quite well. It’s not college basketball. You don’t make a career out of a weird personality who quotes the media well. This is the Premier League, where even the most respected coaches in the world can be fired within eight months without results. There are consequences to this shit, and if you take Leeds down and at the same time confirm every negative stereotype already held in the world about American coaches, you are going to cum for it for everyone else. Shake like every other coach in the league and win some games.