New Leeds head coach Jesse Marsch says there’s a stigma about Americans managing in English football and reckons a certain beloved TV character probably hasn’t helped.
The 48-year-old American signed a contract at Elland Road until June 2025 on Monday after the club sacked hugely popular Argentinian Marcelo Bielsa.
Yet Marsch says the hit television comedy-drama series Ted Lasso has done little to help the perception of American football coaches working on this side of the Atlantic.
Referring to the show that features an American with no football knowledge being hired to take over as manager of an English football club, the former RB Salzburg and RB Leipzig boss Marsch said: “I think there probably is a stigma. I’m not sure Ted Lasso helped. I haven’t watched the show, but I get it.
“People hate hearing the word ‘soccer’. I’ve used the word football since I was a professional football player.
“I think more and more in the States we’re adapting to what the game here is in England and our connection with what this league is and what the culture of the sport is in this country.
“I can understand they think we don’t have the experiences that can be created here in Europe. Frankly, they’re right.”
(Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)
Marsch, a former player with Major League Soccer sides DC United, Chicago Fire and Chivas USA, started out in management as assistant coach of the USA national team under former head coach Bob Bradley.
Bradley’s short-lived spell in charge of Swansea in 2016 also did little to address the misconception.
After managerial spells at Montreal Impact and New York Red Bulls, Marsch guided Salzburg to successive Austrian league and cup doubles before a brief stint at Leipzig.
He said: “It was the reason I came to Europe, the reason I learned German. It’s the reason I’ve tried to adapt. This is the fifth country I have coached football in.
“It takes me out of my comfort zone every time and challenges me to grow and develop and learn new things. I’m very open to that, I’m very cognisant of the fact that I’m not perfect and I don’t want to be.
“All I can say is the only way I know how to do things is to go all in, give everything I have to believe in who I am, to believe in the people I work with and to try to maximise what we are every day.
“I find if you can do that effectively, you can be incredibly surprised with the human spirit and what you can achieve.”
Marsch added, self-mockingly: “So, that sounds like Ted Lasso, I think, from what I have heard!”
Marsch has 12 games to keep Leeds in the top flight after a string of heavy defeats.
Leeds sit 16th in the table, two points above the relegation zone, after losing five of their last six matches.
© AAP
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
Mohamed Salah and Diogo Jota both have struck twice as Liverpool snapped their five-game winless run with a resounding 6-1 Premier League victory at…
FA Cup News, as it happens
Newcastle's rise to becoming a team ready to compete in the Champions League seemed inevitable following their buy-out by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund a year ago.
Manchester City have started their celebrations to mark a decade since their first Premier League title by trying to prevent the sixth success being…
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has celebrated his side's individual defending after they edged past West Ham 1-0 to close within three points of Premier…
