by STAR-MANGLED BANNER SO FAREWELL Jesse Marsch, doomed to failure at Leeds and on a hiding to nothing the minute he opened his mouth at Elland Road.
He arrived in England with an impressive coaching pedigree at New York Red Bulls, RB Leipzig and RB Salzburg.
Jesse Marsch was on a hiding to nothing as Leeds manager
But nothing could give him wings with football’s toughest crowd.
Compared to TV character Ted Lasso and derided for his accent, his positivity and even his clothes, the American never stood a chance of winning over the good folk of Yorkshire, where they still worship Marcelo Bielsa as one of their own.
Dour, monosyllabic and communicating via a series of grunts, what was it that so endeared Bielsa to the Leeds supporters?
Because even though Bielsa Ball was taking their team back to the Championship at a rate of knots, they were still inconsolable when he was replaced by Marsch a year ago.
There is an unacknowledged snobbery in English football which means we can never accept a Yank can teach us anything about the game we gave to the world.
Even though no English manager has EVER won the Premier League title, we still cling to the belief that only someone from a ‘proper football country’ can be trusted to run our top teams.
And according to that Little Englander philosophy, people like Marsch should stick to American football, baseball and basketball… or owning most of our big clubs.
It meant that he spent his entire time at Leeds desperately trying not to say the ‘s’ word, because the mere mention of ‘soccer’ would drive the fans apoplectic.
Yet that didn’t prevent him from signing US internationals Brenden Aaronson and Tyler Adams during his first transfer window nor from adding Weston McKennie last week.
Marsch knew drastic measures were called for after Leeds had avoided relegation by the skin of their teeth last season courtesy of a last day win at Brentford.
And to be fair to the owners, they backed him to the tune of £134.8million for 13 new signings.
They also gave him longer to put things right than Scott Parker, Thomas Tuchel, Steven Gerrard, Bruno Lage, Ralph Hasenhuttl and Frank Lampard received from top- flight rivals this season.
Yet results never improved and with the revolting crowd turning ugly, Marsch’s departure was always going to be just a matter of time.
But it wasn’t the nature of his sacking as much as the timing which came as such a head scratcher.
Because the Leeds hierarchy must have known that they were about to wield the axe when they forked out £25m – which could rise to £35m – for Georginio Rutter, before signing McKennie and Diogo Monteiro on transfer deadline day.
And what exactly were they thinking when they appointed Marsch’s long-term sidekick Chris Armas as his No 2 two weeks ago?
Surely it wasn’t just last Sunday’s unfortunate 1-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest which convinced the board that change was needed.
More likely it was a panicked reaction to Everton winning their first game under new boss Sean Dyche and threatening to drag Leeds into the bottom three.
Yet they didn’t have much of a succession plan because they are now scrambling around trying to find a managerial replacement after being rebuffed by Carlos Corberan and Andoni Iraola.
And the only thing at Elland Road that’s guaranteed is that the next man won’t come wrapped in a star-spangled banner.
