"I want the person I'm talking to to feel my gratitude": Marcelo Bielsa goes back to Chile

Last week Chile's national stadium, El Coloso in Santiago, gave the city of Leeds an example to follow should the worst ever happen, as it so nearly did, and Marcelo Bielsa comes back to Elland Road in charge of Everton or Bournemouth.

Fans turned out in large numbers, although the game against Bielsa's Uruguay was a meaningless end to Chile's worst ever attempt at qualifying for the World Cup and even ended 0-0. They held up banners that echoed the ones they'd displayed in Bielsa's last match in charge of La Roja, and chanted the same words to him: 'Thank you Marcelo, Chile does not forget you'.

Before the game a group of Chilean supporters had held up the same banner for his arrival at Uruguay's team hotel, and a journalist tried to give him a packet of Criollitas, his favourite local cookies. It was a moving outpouring of appreciation for a coach credited with changing the mentality of Chilean football, who would have liked to keep working with the national team for as long as the fans wanted but was forced out by politics at the Chilean FA.

And at the hotel, of course, Bielsa, 'true to his style, went silently to his room and did not even look at those who were paying tribute to him'. I don't think anyone expected or wanted it any other way.

But at El Coloso he raised his hand to acknowledge the crowd, and after the match was over he spoke warmly about the welcome he'd been given.

"The memories I have of the time I spent here are beautiful. That was a wonderful time. On a personal level, professionally, and through my contact with the Chilean people. In that sense, I am very grateful. When one says that one receives more than one deserves, it may seem like false modesty, but I received a lot during my time in Chile, from my point of view. I gave everything I could and did not achieve anything significant. Wherever I am in the world, when I meet a Chilean, it makes me happy, sincerely.

"I feel the need to give back or show my gratitude. I want the person I'm talking to to feel that. All human beings aspire to be loved, above all else. The most important thing a human being receives is affection.

"Everything I saw (this week) evokes the moments I spent here. I have many beautiful memories of that. When I arrived here... all the circuits, the pitch, the changing rooms, the stadium, beyond what I see now, I look back and fill it with images I experienced here. It was exciting. It's something that cannot be expressed."

But, "One is framed in a professional task and I am very happy to live the experience in Uruguay," he added.

Not everyone in Chile was going along with the cookie-toting hero worship of his 'widows'. A newspaper interviewed some former players, all from before Bielsa's time in charge, who were indifferent about his influence. César Vaccia said he'd given a good example, but only helped the few who were able to work with him — perhaps a hangover view from the years after Bielsa, when many of his coaches got jobs with Chilean clubs. Leonel Herrera said Bielsa had been lucky to inherit a good group of players, and he didn't change anything fundamental. Jorge Aravena said Bielsa only changed the mentality of the players he worked with, and that Chilean league football never improved. All were of the opinion that Bielsa had done good work at the time but not left enough behind.