There are certainly similarities between the situation Jesse Marsch inherited at Leeds United and the one he could inherit should he take over as the new manager of Scottish Premiership champions Celtic.
At Elland Road, the 49-year-old was tasked with stepping into the almighty shadow of an enigmatic head coach who arrived as something of a mystery and left a legend; a bucket-perching statue to prove it.
Ange Postecoglou, like Marcelo Bielsa when transforming Leeds back in 2018, took over a club at a low ebb and almost-immediately galvanised it through his sheer force of personality. He instilled a thrilling style of football, while elevating the players at his disposal to hitherto unimaginable heights.
But having lasted less than 12 months at Leeds – winning just 11 of his 37 Premier League games while feeling like an awkward step-father attempting to fill in for the beloved Bielsa – is Marsch really the right man to take Postecoglou’s place at Parkhead?
Sky Sports say that the unattached American is one of the early frontrunners. But Marsch did precious little after succeeding Bielsa at Leeds – and Julian Nagelsmann at RB Leipzig for that matter – to suggest that he can build upon Postecoglou’s foundations, even if he is a paid-up member of the Ange fanclub.
Will Jesse Marsch replace Ange Postecoglou at Celtic?
“I’m a big admirer of Ange,” Marsch said back in 2022 during Leeds’ pre-season tour Down Under.
“The work he has done here (in Australia), in Japan and then in Scotland has been really, really good. What a great first year he had with Celtic.
“I love seeing people challenge themselves, have clear ideas. Teams that play in a very distinct manner, and stay true to their identity.”
“Whatever style you have, if you can have an identity it is inspiring.”
One of the main criticisms that followed Marsch during spells at Leeds and Leipzig, however, concerned exactly that. His team’s ‘identity’. Or a lack thereof.
At both clubs, Marsch served only to dilute a complex, well-honed, possession style. Instead introducing an approach which proved to be more ‘kick-and-rush’ than ‘controlled’. High-pressing and ferocious off the ball, yes, but lacking direction and ideas on it.
Celtic’s interest ‘an honour’
Marsch has been linked with the Celtic post, on and off, since his Red Bull Salzburg days. When he was taking the Champions League by storm alongside a little-known blonde bomber of a number nine by the name of Erling Braut Haaland.
He even admitted, at the time, that being considered by a club of Celtic’s stature and history was ‘an honour’. But, if he was to take over now, he would do so with his career – and his reputation – in a very different place.
Salzburg-era Marsch was a man on the up. Now, he would be heading to Celtic hoping to rebuild, in the knowledge that another high-profile failure would probably spell the end for him at the top level of European football.
If Marsch is to thrive at Celtic after failing at Leeds and Leipzig, then he’d perhaps be best served attempting to simply continue Postecoglou’s sterling work, rather than bring about any wholesale changes of his own. If it ain’t broken, after all…
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