When he rolled into Leeds he was already renowned as 'El Loco'.

"The truth," said his South American adversary, the Argentinian World Cup winner Cesar Luis Menotti, "is that he's a little crazy."

Marcelo Bielsa has already blazed a remarkable trail in his time at Elland Road, lifting the languishing Yorkshire giant back towards the brink of the Premier League, and winning plaudits for his attacking style of football.

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His devil-may-care conviction took a new twist on Friday night, when he unashamedly admitted contriving the spying saga which saw a member of his staff questioned outside the Derby training ground.

Marcelo Bielsa is a huge hit with Leeds fans (
Image:
Justin Setterfield)
They were very impressive against Derby on Friday night (
Image:
George Wood)

In an era of half-truths and circuitous evasion of questions, Bielsa's response on the issue, when questioned prior to the game on Sky Sports, was as refreshing as it was revealing.

"I am responsible for it," Bielsa admitted. "It is not illegal, we have been doing it publicly and we talk about it in the press. For some people, it's the wrong thing to do and for other people, it's not the wrong thing to do."

Given his maverick history, Bielsa's response was hardly surprising. Stories abound of his unorthodox methods, including examining a 13-year-old Mauricio Pochettino's legs in order to determine his potential as a defender.

The former Argentina coach has history (
Image:
Reuters)
Leeds fans didn't appear bothered by the spying confession (
Image:
George Wood)

In his 2008 book about the history of tactics, Inverting The Pyramid, Jonathan Wilson writes: "Once when asked how he planned to spend the Christmas and New Year's vacation, Bielsa explained that he intended to do two hours of physical exercise each day and spend 14 hours watching videos."

But Bielsa is no stranger to the training pitch.

With the Argentinian and Chilean national squads, at Athletic Bilbao and then Marseille, the now 63-year-old has been lauded as an ardent man manager who will go to extreme lengths in his pursuit of a perfect possession and pace-based brand of football.

The coach looks deflated as England beat Argentina 1-0 in the 2002 World Cup (
Image:
Reuters)

In 2012, when Bilbao were wowing the crowds on their way to the Europa League final, Pep Guardiola described Bielsa as "the best manager in the world", playing down his lack of trophies and focusing instead on his long career of influence across the game and on thriving modern coaches like himself.

Bielsa' record may be as crazy as his antics - but either way, it is easy to see why he has found a home at Leeds, a club still reeling from the effects of the Massimo Cellino reign.

Spy-gate may have antagonised Frank Lampard and Derby. But it will also have strengthened the bond between Bielsa and the fans of a club which has always relished its reputation as public enemy number one.