Former Leeds United favourite Lee Bowyer has admitted he would look to take a leaf out of Marcelo Bielsa’s book if he is offered the manager’s job at Elland Road this summer.
Where do they go from here? Rudderless, leaderless, directionless. Managerless.
Victor Orta is gone, Sam Allardyce too. And, with the Andrea Radrizzani era seemingly coming to an end as well, just who on earth is calling the shots at Leeds United these days? Angus Kinnear, perhaps? The San Francisco 49ers?
Who on earth is responsible for making the decisions which could be ‘make or break’ as far as an immediate return to the top-flight is concerned?
This is a club crying out for an injection of ‘football intelligence’. The sort of nous, knowledge and personality required to galvanise a side pining for the glory days of Marcelo Bielsa.
Lee Bowyer, part of the Leeds team who reached the Champions League semi-finals in 2001, certainly knows the club, not to mention the league.
He held talks before Allardyce was appointed on a short-term deal in May. And Bowyer would not take much convincing if his old bosses were to come calling again.
Will Leeds United make a move for Lee Bowyer?
“Without going into too much detail, there was a message or two exchanged. The decision from the club was to go for Big Sam because of experience,” Bowyer tells talkSPORT (6 June, 12pm).
“Going forward, I would like to think we would have a conversation at some stage, and maybe try and put something together.
“I’ve got an understanding and a connection with the club. And, if I got the call, I would love to go there. I’d jump at the chance.
“I know the Championship now, I understand it. I believe that, if I went there, I would get them promoted again.”
‘You do it the way Bielsa did it’
Bowyer is certainly not lacking in confidence. And though some will point out that the straight-talking 46-year-old has been out of the game since a disappointing spell at Birmingham City came to an end in 2022, Bowyer will argue that he did a more than passable job in very testing circumstances in the Midlands.
The former England international already has a promotion on his CV too; his Charlton Athletic side beating Sunderland at Wembley in the 2019 League One play-off final
“Oh yeah, for sure. (The Leeds job) ticks all the boxes for me,” Bowyer adds, insisting that he would look to recapture lightning in a bottle and take inspiration from Bielsa’s famously free-wheeling, crowd-pleasing style.
“You do it the way Bielsa does it; play this expansive, attacking football. That’s what the fans cry out for. As long as you’re on the front foot and pressing.
“What he (Bielsa) did was unbelievable. I would like to think I’d be a little more defensively minded. But I will definitely play on the attacking front. That’s how I would approach it.”
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