Marcelo Bielsa wants to coach the Socceroos, declaring his desire to lead a country he believes can become a powerful football nation.

Speaking after Leeds United's 2-1 win over Western Sydney Wanderers, the Leeds coach said he was disappointed not to have been formally approach by Football Federation Australia when the job was last vacant in 2017.

The Argentinian was at the top of FFA's shopping list immediately after Ange Postecoglou resigned in November 2017 but formal negotiations never eventuated. It's understood one of the main reasons why Bielsa wasn't appointed Socceroos' coach for the 2018 World Cup in Russia was that he did not speak English, limiting the impact he could have with the national team in such a short amount of time.

"Always I had the illusion that this could be an option or at a minimum to talk with them, to know what they want. Finally, this contact never happened. I understand perfectly why it was like this but honestly, I would like to be part of the football of this country," Bielsa said.

"The country could be dangerous because finally their football is growing. They are at an age in football that will give the national team a chance to get success."


More on,
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/marcelo-bielsa-puts-his-hand-up-to-coach-socceroos-20190720-p5295f.html

Well well well...if the only the FFA at the time had the wisdom to least ask him if he was interested in this project, sounds like he has got some interest in the idea of coaching us, what could have been moment again...

Please let him still end up coaching the Socceroos. Please, please, please

$$$

lol at thinking bielsa is gonna work with australian players. bielsa tactics work with players from a hard mentality, works well with eastern bloc countries but not with australians who are given everything to them on a silver spoon. 

the only player that would match bielsa mentality is mat ryan

The language barrier has been suggested as one of the main reasons he wasn't approached but I've thought for a while that FFA could have tried to do a package deal with Batistuta as his assistant. Batigol lived in Perth for several years so I'm guessing his English is ok. And apparently he was close to signing on as an a-league coach a while ago so he might have been interested in a role with the NT, especially as he reputedly is a huge admirer of Bielsa. Might have been too pricey for the FFA but surely worth at least a conversation.

I think he'd get a lot out of our players. I think the likes of Jeggo, Irvine, Sainsbury and Rogic would benefit immensely. 

Arnie, please step aside...

Batigol was shortlisted for the adelaide job a few years bag... media reports at the time suggested the deal fell through when he wanted all his own backroom staff , whereas aufc wanted some locals / existing staff to stay on 

Aussie players have the mentality to play at a high intensity, it's part of our wider culture, it's just not something a lot of our players are pushed to do. With a coach like Bielsa, I have no doubt our players would give 100%. Whether all of them are physically capable is another matter.

One of the things that was said when BvM got the NT gig was how coachable Aussies are. They just need the right coach.

In all honesty we dont deserve this guy. We are a footballing backwater and we are not being true to ourselves or to the game of football. 

Think ARnie has done a great job with the second unit. Would like to see what he can do when everyone is available.

I get what you're saying, but all the more reason why we NEED him or someone of his calibre/even better - to give us that push forward to becoming a 'proper' footballing nation. Fuck knows Arnie def isn't the guy to do that.

We must stick by Arnie.
Loyalty and honour still have some place in this world.

We're not all into blowing dudes' micropenises, mate💡

Agreed. And just to add to that, here are some quotes from Gertjan Verbeek echoing those sentiments:

“He (Holman) like all the Australians I’ve worked with, had a great mentality. Never complaining, just working. I like this attitude of Australian players. It’s different to some Dutch players.”

Do you understand the FFA turned down one of the worlds greatest coaches who actually wants to work with us simply because he didn't speak Englsih. Fuck me dead that makes me so fucking angry. Dickheads who run our game.

Oh I know. Further proof, for those still in denial about it, that FFA's idea of making the game a major player in the Oz sporting landscape is by de-ethnicising it as much as possible.

It can't be said too often; this whole fixation w/converting mainstream/'Anglo' Australia to ⚽ must be put to bed. By and large they & their forebears have at best ignored and at worst been brought up to hate the game for the past 140 years...what makes FFA so sure they can arrest that trend now??

Put simply, the day the Socceroos are made up mostly of 'skips' for the first time in history since the mid-1950s will be the same day the Oz cricket team is made up mainly of dudes of African &/or Latino background😂😂

Manager on preseason tour says he’s manage the national team of country he’s in. Honestly don’t think there’s much to see here. Wasn’t he asking well well above the asking range last time we asked him?

Was he more expensive than Van Marwijk and if so would he have blown the FFA budget. I don't know, maybe I am being too harsh on the FFA but probably not. Everyone knows the the history of how they have run the sport. You only have to look at the recent Alan Stajcic saga to know its been a cluster fuck.

1974  World Cup squad   16 Anglo Australians 6 Ethnics.

Mainstream NSW has always included football.  With their takeover in 1957 the migrant clubs took the game away from the "masses" and made it an immigrant sport but fortunately the District Associations which were already large stayed true with "football for all" and tens of thousands of migrants joined in to make football in NSW the largest grassroots sporting group in Australia providing more than half of the participants and registered football players in the country.  It's a pity that the game has been held back in the rest of Australia by narrow views.

Comparing Arnie to Bielsa is like comparing a everyday Holden to a Ferrari.