Leeds United v Chelsea: No history lesson but ‘identity’ important to Jesse Marsch

When the sides meet at Elland Road tomorrow afternoon, supporters all around the ground will be stirred by a hatred largely originating from events before many were born.

In essence, the Leeds-Chelsea rivalry emerged in Division Two during the 1960s when both clubs were notorious to put it politely for their no-holds-barred players, and was cemented in a brutal 1970 FA Cup final, which went to a replay. Over the next couple of decades it mainly played out on the terraces and in city centres between two sets of fans from parts of the country with very different images, although the December 1997 meeting that saw Gary Kelly and Alf Inge Haaland sent off was just one reminder it was still alive onto the grass too.

The dismal failure of chairman Ken Bates, manager Dennis Wise and assistant Gustavo Poyet – all Chelsea figureheads – at Elland Road in the early noughties hardly helped raise the Blues’ popularity in West Yorkshire.

This chapter of the Leeds story is not one Princeton history graduate Marsch has been regaling his players with – the footballing threats posed by the modern-day Blues demand their full attention this week – but in general he does think his players need to know the club’s past, not as history for history’s sake but because it shapes the identity and inspires the achievements he wants in 2022.

“It’s massively important because playing in front of these fans you have to know the identity of the club and what Elland Road is, what it means, what the identity of Yorkshire (is) and the type of people here, what’s important to them, what they want to see on matchday,” says the American coach.

“Of course they want to see a quality football team but they also want to see 11 fighters on the pitch at all moments. I think that’s why I fit because it’s the way I’m built, to never back down and be ready for every challenge.

“We have a team who I think has shown that already and the fans are embracing and we’ll continue to grow that way.

Asked if there had been any ‘history lesson’ on this fixture, Marsch says, “No, I don’t think so.

“When Andrea (Radrizzani, the chairman) spoke to the team he showed a video with a lot of the history of the club. Before a lot of them come Victor (Orta, the director of football) has incredible scenes from the past (he shows them) and talks about trophies and the identity.

“It’s one thing to talk about the history of the club and another to talk about the identity and the history means something to the identity, they’re not separate.

“This is the beauty of this club, you can meet someone in the street who’s five years-old or 95 years-old, and they’ve got Leeds United stories.”

Not every Leeds manager has been quite so willing to embrace the past – Howard Wilkinson famously had pictures of the Don Revie glory days taken down because he felt the past was weighing heavily on his players. As anyone with a passing acquaintance with the club’s history will tell you, that worked out quite well.

“Maybe if you have an English perspective you’re so used to storied pasts of clubs but now the league is so multicultural I think embracing the identity of the club is one of the important things, no matter where you go,” says the American. “I think you have to understand the fans, the history, the ex-players and the expectations.

“Each club has its own identity and no doubt we do. I love it.”

Tomorrow at Elland Road, though, history can wait.

Forget “Chopper” Harris and Eddie McCreadie, football is a very different game now, and since Roman Abramovich bought them, Chelsea have become a very different club – a very successful one.

“We’re only a year and three months removed from them winning the Champions League and I think that they’ve continued to add to their squad in a really good way,” Marsch is quick to point out. “They have amazing players.

“I was presenting them to the team today. I said, ‘This player is good’ and then ‘That player is good’ and then ‘He’s good at this... You know what, they’re all good!

“The biggest thing is that the players understand the plan and go after the game. I think we have a team that can cause some havoc.

“But Chelsea is an incredible club, one of the richest in the world with one of the best teams in the world an incredible coach – who hopefully won’t be on the bench – and that’s entirely our focus right now.”

He laughs at his cheeky reference to Thomas Tuchel, speaking before the Chelsea coach’s one-match ban for his post-match red card at the end of last week’s London derby was confirmed. It has, though, been suspended pending the written reasons, so he will be in the dugout tomorrow.

For a coach who “was probably tossed out of games too much in the MLS” who has already had one spat with a rival manager – Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Bruno Lage has not yet replied to his apologetic email but Marsch says it was quite recent and the Portuguese is busy – it might be tempting fate to say: “I’ve always assumed when a manager gets a red card he’s suspended for the next match.”

Jumping at an opportunity to leave the boot in on Chelsea? That really is respecting Leeds United’s history.