da fazobetai： This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…
da realsbet： A few eyebrows were raised when Marcelo Bielsa was given the FIFA Fair Play award last month.
The Leeds United manager has come under fire from his peers for his supposed unsporting conduct when Spygate occurred, and the club was consequently handed a £200,000 fine for the incident, which Bielsa paid off himself.
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However, when you look at it closely, it has to be said that the 64-year-old was a worthy recipient of the Fair Play award, and his comments in the media this week back that up even further.
The Argentine spoke about the attitude that he tries to instil in his players.
“I always say to the players that we have to avoid fouling, try to accept all the decisions or mistakes of the referees, even if we think it is good or bad,” he said.
“They have to let the referee decide as he interprets the situation. We have to adapt to the referee’s decision. We don’t have to talk with the opponent or show bad behaviour away from the play.”
The former Chile manager seemingly wants the beautiful game to stay beautiful, and he wants his players to respect the referee’s decision whether they agree with it or not.
This just shows the type of manager Bielsa is. He has the utmost respect for the sport, and the last thing he’d want is to ruin proceedings due to a lack of sportsmanship from some of his players.
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Spygate was a rare anomaly but just look at how he reacted when Pontus Jansson attempted to stop Aston Villa from scoring last season.
He wasn’t knowingly bending the rules by what happened with Derby last term and he held his hands up and explained that he was unaware of the culture. The fact that he’s now said this shows that he more than deserved his Fair Play award.
We’re 11 years on from the introduction of the Respect Campaign from the FA, and some managers in the British game seemingly still don’t get it.
Therefore, for a man who has been managing in England for just over a year to immediately try to instil this type of attitude into his players is brilliant to see, and hopefully, these comments resonate with managers at all levels – from the Premier League all the way down to grassroots.
Long gone are the days of Don Revie’s ‘Dirty Leeds’ where the wider footballing community hated the Whites due to their underhanded tactics.
While that crop of stars may have ignored Brian Clough’s instructions to throw all their medals in the bin due to their questionable style, this new generation seem to be well on board with Bielsa’s fair play mantra as they rank 18th in the Championship discipline table.