Phil Hay

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER The behind-the-scenes story of the Marcelo Bielsa revolution at Leeds United and their first season back in the Premier League after sixteen years of hurt. FEATURING FRESH PERSONAL INSIGHT FROM MARCELO BIELSA When Marcelo Bielsa was appointed head coach of Leeds United in the summer of 2018, the club had just finished 13th in the Championship - their 15th consecutive season outside the top flight - and were defined as much by their excesses and disasters off the pitch as their lack of success on it. Bielsa changed everything. In guiding Leeds back to the promised land of the Premier League, he has transformed the club into a vastly more dynamic, entertaining and professional outfit, fully endearing himself to the Leeds faithful and capturing the imaginations of football fans around the world. With his unique tactical approach, strict diet and body fat controls and a gruelling training schedule - including his infamous 'murderball' sessions - Bielsa has shaped a gang of Championship misfits and journeymen into a team that plays breathtakingly relentless attacking football and is more than capable of going toe-to-toe with the game's established heavyweights. In And it was Beautiful, Phil Hay documents the fortunes of Leeds United under Marcelo Bielsa during their return to the Premier League for the 2020/21 season. By weaving in stories of crises from the club's purgatory in the English Football League, he presents a comprehensive and compelling portrait of an enigmatic manager whose values are the antithesis of everything that has previously gone wrong at Leeds during the dark days of Ken Bates, Massimo Cellino and GFH. Phil pulls back the curtain on Bielsa's innovative tactical methods, his unconventional yet highly productive relationship with owner Andrea Radrizzani and Director of Football Victor Orta, his intensely loyal backroom team and the extraordinary cultural impact Bielsa has had on the city of Leeds - from murals and songs to cult fanbases in the provinces of Argentina. The result is a unique and beautiful love affair that has made dreams come true.

Marcelo Bielsa and the Rebirth of Leeds United

And it was Beautiful

The 2007-08 season for Leeds United Football Club will have been anything but regular. At the end of the previous season, one of England's most famous football clubs was relegated to what is in effect the Third Division. Still stricken with mountains of debt accumulated under an earlier regime, the club was put into administration, then hit with a 15-point penalty for the coming season due to alleged financial irregularities. With a young manager on board and a squad of players made up of trainees, reserves and cheap buy-ins or free transfers, the future looked bleak for a club that only five years ago was challenging for the Premiership and the Champions League. But can dreams come true for their long-suffering and fiercely loyal fans? Thus far Leeds have won more games than any other team in League One and look more than likely to gain promotion at the first attempt. The club is on a roller-coaster ride to gain back its self-respect and an appetite for further glories in 2008 - so will the story run to a happy ending? Yorkshire Evening Post journalist Phil Hay has followed the team since the pre-season friendlies last summer and through their league and cup matches this season. He has interviewed players, coaching staff, board members and fans to get a true warts-and-all picture of life at Leeds United as they struggle for redemption. This is as dramatic a story of football as you will ever read.

Phil Hay

About

Books

Join the club