Last week marked the thirty year anniversary of Marcelo Bielsa joining @CANOBoficial_en as manager. Join us on a trip down memory lane, courtesy of our mate (and Newell’s fan) @groundhopperbcn.

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“The one that crosses the garden, steps on the flowers and arrives faster. The other way takes longer but, if you respect the garden, you don’t damage the flowers.”

A young Marcelo in Rosario, next to teammates José Luis Danguise and Carlos Picerni in 1977.

He played for Newell's but had to quit. Retiring aged 25, Bielsa decided to apprentice under Jorge Griffa's instruction, working his way up through the Newell's youth ranks as a coach.

A player for Newell’s in the fifties, Griffa left for Spain and returned a decade later as the most exceptional discoverer of youth talent in Argentina.

"To me," said Bielsa later, "he is a master." Here's El Maestro getting a hero's welcome at the Jorge Griffa Training Centre.

If the best teams are those who find different ways to win, Marcelo has only a single idea, “Let's play football”.

A difficult idea made simple (or the other way around?), he divided the country into 70 parts and toured with his old car on the lookout for new talent.

The leg-work paid off. After ten years in the youth ranks, he was made first team manager of Newell's Old Boys in 1990. Then Marcelo won the Torneo Apertura in 90 and the Primera División Championship 90/91.

In 92, they won the Torneo Clausura and finished runners-up in Copa Libertadores, beaten by Telê Santana’s São Paulo — featuring Raí, Müller, and a young Cafu — on penalties.

It was actually a monster penalty shootout in the semis that saw Newell's through the final. They beat América de Cali 11-10 in what was then a tournament record.

Here's the whole thing.

Some team, that. Some goalie shirt on "Gringo" Scoponi too.

Marcelo would leave Newell's in 1992, but defined the club's identity with an eternal shout after his first league win.

¡𝑁𝑒𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙'𝑠 𝐶𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑗𝑜! ¡𝑁𝑒𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙'𝑠 𝐶𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑗𝑜!

Roughly translated: "Come on the fucking Newell's!"

From there, Marcelo began his Mexican odyssey, moving to Guadalajara to manage Atlas’s academy in 1992 before leading the first team the following season, and joining Club América in 1995.

His time in Mexico taught him many things... mostly about tacos.

"He was obsessed," said Atlas coach Efraín Flores. "We would stop at any stall on the street to eat tacos. As he left work each day, his first question was always, 'Where else are there good tacos?'"

Fair play.

"You see, Marcelo has been most vocal on the subject of the tacos. 'Where are the best tacos?' 'When are you going to get the tacos?' 'Why aren't you getting the tacos now?' And so on."

Anyway, Vélez Sarsfield gave the keys of the club to Marcelo, guiding them to Torneo Clausura victory in his first season. High pressure and an aggressive attack became Vélez’s trademark, but players suffered a burnout from the all-out game plan.

Not the first, nor the last...

Marcelo landed in Barcelona to coach Espanyol and former legionary Mauricio Pochettino. But, before long, the motherland called him back for National Team duty, promising the nomad a long term project at last.

Suffice to say, it didn't go well. This period in charge of Albiceleste remains a key point in Bielsa's career. The eternal struggle between philosophy and results led to national outcry, as Argentina stumbled through World Cup qualification in ‘02 and the tournament proper.

The main point of contention: playing one up front. He lived and would die by his systems, but the decision to choose between Gabriel Batistuta and Hernán Crespo is still studied in the late-night bars of Buenos Aires.

One of his most infamous games in charge involved another striker, Martin Palermo, missing three penalties against Colombia in a 3–0 loss at the 1999 Copa América.

You might remember it.

But he stayed. They finished second in the 2004 Copa America and won Gold in Athens with an outstanding new generation of players. Then, later that year, having proved his critics somewhat wrong, he left.

“I don’t have the energy for this any more,” he told stunned reporters.

Marcelo took three years out, and returned with renewed vigour in 2007. His impact in the hot seat of the Chilean national team lasts to this day. You can still hear fans in the streets of Santiago say, ‘Marcelo Bielsa gave us back our dignity’.

Under Bielsa it was a series of firsts. Chile's first away win v Peru in 25 years, first away win v Paraguay in nearly 30, first ever point away v Uruguay, first win v Argentina in an official match anywhere. A return to the 2010 World Cup was the icing on La Roja’s cake.