Only hours after rumours surfaced that Leeds United were in talks with a "genuine" managerial contender Marcelo Bielsa, Paul Heckingbottom's 16-game reign in charge came to its expected end.
Few will recall his tenure with anything more than a shrug; just one in a long line of promising young managers lured in - and overwhelmed - by Leeds United.
Sleeping giant, or black hole, the prospect of Marcelo Bielsa taking charge calls up Hunter S. Thompson's adage for such circumstances; "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."
Leeds United remains a 'weird' club, and Bielsa hardly carries with him any promise of normalcy. 62-years-old and on the cusp of his fourth decade in management, Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino are among those who hail his genius.
The combustibility of Leeds United may well suit Bielsa, but will his particular madness offer more than some light relief, and the prospect of an interesting few weeks or months? Probably not. But then, that's never stopped either of them before.
Familiar to Millions
Veering dangerously over the precipice, or already falling? Oasis' 2000 live album hinted toward the latter.
Already running through the motions, six years after they had bombastically commanded the spotlight, calls from Liam across the stage that 'you should write more songs' like "Supersonic" to Noel epitomised their stagnation.
Even the album's title, Familiar to Millions - what is the upshot of familiarity? Sure, it was a testament to their astounding popularity, but what exactly does such comfort enable? You're hardly poised for any great shocks?
Marcelo Bielsa maintains a distant kind of familiarity; or his methods do, anyway. Known for the intense and innovative playing-style his teams adopt, his name has largely come to us through his disciples.
Speaking today amid rumours that he could replace Zinedine Zidane at Real Madrid, Spurs' Mauricio Pochettino hailed Bielsa as "one of the best managers in the world." For Manchester City's Pep Guardiola, Bielsa stands alone as #1.
His outstanding achievement in European club football came with a startling Athletic Bilbao team six years ago. Qualifying for the finals of both the Europa League and Copa del Rey in the 2011/12 season, the astounding potential and grim reality of his vision was plain to see.
Recently speaking to Graham Hunter on his Big Interview podcast, Manchester United's Ander Herrera featured for Bielsa's Bilbao during the season in question. Recalling the highs and lows of the Argentine's methods, Herrera's experience of the "romantic football of Marcelo Bielsa" was not without its lingering regrets:
[In the two finals], we were a completely different team than we had been before.
To be honest, we were physically fucked ... we couldn't run anymore.
A consequence of Bielsa's proclivity for using a limited number of squad players and the high-octane approach his playing-style demanded, Herrera was careful not to blame the manager. Yet, the season's end clearly didn't match the effort exuded.
While it would be churlish to chastise a manager who takes such a club to those heights only to fall at the last, he was 56-years-old at the time; this wasn't a young manager still learning.
In his eighth managerial role, why didn't Bielsa hold the factor of fatigue in higher regard?
When discussing the obvious lack of trophies in Bielsa's back-catalogue of work, Guardiola is quick to move concern beyond this seemingly trivial point:
It doesn’t matter how many titles he had in his career.
We are judged by that – how much success we have, how many titles we have won, but that is much less influential than how he has influenced football and his football players.
An important innovator then, how useful would this characteristic be at mid-level Championship club? Is he, like Oasis eighteen-years ago, simply going through the same old motions, or is there anything genuinely brilliant still residing within this manager's make-up?
Marcelo Bielsa vs 'Mick McCarthy'
There is little doubt that the Argentine Bielsa offers the more exciting option as Leeds go in search of yet another manager.
Yet, having prematurely departed Ipswich Town at the tail-end of last season, Mick McCarthy offers a different kind of familiarity that Leeds United fans had initially liked the sound of.
Objectively, he is Bielsa's polar opposite; a figure you would trust with taking Leeds no lower than their 13th placed finish this season, but one who may not guarantee any great escalation beyond this either.
If not the former Ireland manager, there are a whole host of 'other' Mick McCarthys waiting in the sideline for a crack at this job. Cast the net further afield, and the likes of Claudio Ranieri, Jaap Stam and even Sam Allardyce, are being talked about.
As things stand, however, Bielsa remains the man atop of Leeds United's most-wanted list.
Could he return them to the Premier League? Maybe. Would he wait around long enough to give it a proper shot? History suggests not.
Safe-hands, or the long-shot? Leeds tend to vouch for the latter.
