Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford has said former Whites boss Marcelo Bielsa was irreplaceable.
The veteran coach ended Leeds’ 16-year spell out of the Premier League in 2020 but was sacked in February 2022 with the side battling relegation.
Speaking on the latest edition of the BBC’s EFL podcast, 72+ Bamford, who moved to Elland Road shortly after Bielsa arrived in summer 2018, said the Argentine had “revitalised” the club.
“Whoever came in after Marcelo, being honest, I don’t think anyone could come in and replace him,” Bamford said.
“In terms of the way that he changed Leeds as a club, from what the fans used to watch and be used to for however many years, to how he came in and kind of revitalised the club.
“I think he holds a really strong place in a lot of the fans’ hearts, so I think coming in to replace him is nigh on impossible.”
Bielsa, who is now head coach of Uruguay, was replaced by Jesse Marsch and the American kept the Whites in the top flight.
But Marsch was sacked the following February and they were relegated in May 2023 after both Javi Gracia and Sam Allardyce failed to stop the slide.
Former Norwich boss Daniel Farke took over to try and guide them to an immediate return to the top flight.
Despite getting 90 points the Whites could only finish third behind Leicester and Ipswich and were eventually beaten in the play-off final by Southampton last season.
Bamford believes Farke, who twice led the Canaries to the Championship title, has the right “charisma” for the role.
“I think with Daniel (Farke), he’s got the character and charisma that you need as a manager coming in to manage a team like Leeds,” he said.
“You need to be 100% sure and believe in 100% your own ideas. And obviously, he’s been in the Championship with Norwich and been successful.
“And last year, although we missed out in the play-off final, it was a very good season, we got a very good points tally.
“It was just a few rough patches of two or three games where we let ourselves down.
“He has to have that kind of character where, he’s going to be questioned when we lose a game, but he so strongly believes in what he does and he knows that it works, that he’s not going to change and bow down, just because some people are calling for this and that.”
Bamford’s form under Bielsa saw him called up to the England squad and he won his sole cap to date against Andorra in October 2021.
However, since then he has struggled with injuries and previously spoke on his own BBC podcast, My Mate’s A Footballer, about how he has seen a sports psychologist to help with the low points of being unable to play for periods of time.
He revealed that during some of his lay-offs he found it hard going to watch the team in action.
“At the time, I didn’t even think I needed a sport psychologist and it was just one of them things that was suggested to me,” the 31-year-old said.
“When I really noticed it helping was when the injuries came, because it got to a point where I was injured for that long, that I absolutely hated watching my own team play.
“That sounds quite strange, but it used to give me, I don’t know whether it was anxiety or a little bit of depression or something. But honestly, regardless of whether we won, lost or drew, after I’d watched the game, for that whole night I would just be in the worst mood, and I just couldn’t shake it until I’d spoken to him.
“Sometimes I actually went through a period where I wouldn’t watch the games, just until I’d gotten to a point where I was comfortable with it again.”
