Marcelo "El Loco" Bielsa has had a rocky couple of weeks
After meeting with Athletic Bilbao president Jose Urrutia, the volatile Argentinian who had shockingly resigned over the club allegedly dragging their feet in opening a new training center has re-considered that decision and decided to stay on for the present. This is being reported by AS and Marca.
Bielsa had just renewed his contract last month till Jun 2013 after leading Athletic to the Europa Cup final which they lost to Valencia.
In a 20 minute press conference Bielsa made some strong allegations of how the training grounds were a complete mess after scuffling with a building contractor in charge of construction. He said he could not in any good conscience allow a squad worth €300m to train in such conditions as he was personally responsible for their well being. It was a fraud, a scam, a theft perpetrated by the construction company who were doing a shoddy job.
Athletic in a statement stoutly defended themselves saying the work was going as planned and that Bielsa had crossed the line.
Bielsa might be volatile but he's always been a players coach and a man of absolute integrity. There was obviously something shady going on with the training ground construction and he said it like he saw it. Maybe some of those Athletic bigwigs were pocketing some kickbacks. The good part is that for now, he remains. But for how long?
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