Death of a Chilean Love Affair

Last Friday, Marcelo Bielsa put an end to three months of speculation by announcing his resignation as manager of the Chilean National Team. It was three and a half years of his work that not only repositioned Chile amongst the world’s best but which also returned faith and hope to a country with a loser complex. Why did he leave? Santiago Irribarra reports from Chile:

On the 4th of February, 2011, Marcelo Bielsa sat down in front of the expectant TV cameras and microphones and immediately made it clear he was resigning from his post, before explaining why. To an outsider the reasons for this may not be clear, and indeed even for a local like me things can be a bit confusing, but considering this has been coming for a long time let’s look at it from the beginning.

The ANFP Elections: Mayne-Nicholls vs. Segovia

In early November, elections were held for the presidency of the ANFP, the body that governs the Chilean league and which is, in practice, also the FA. The incumbent president was Harold Mayne-Nicholls, a FIFA employee who had signed Bielsa and who had recently headed the World Cup evaluation committee in the various bidding nations. Until late October, it was practically a given that he would have no opposition in the elections. Who stood a chance against the man who had brought Chile so much success?

Jorge Segovia. The president of club Unión Española, who came to be reviled by the Chilean public, received the strong backing of the big three clubs (Colo-Colo, Universidad de Chile and Universidad Católica), who were unhappy with Mayne-Nicholls as they felt that prioritizing the National Team above the league was detrimental to them. As more and more clubs sided with Segovia, things started to look bleak for HMN.

Bielsa, who had recently signed a new contract keeping him until 2015, did not like Segovia and the people supporting him, mainly because they had continuously hindered him by refusing to lend their players for friendly matches and throwing tantrums when they were summoned close to competition dates or when they came back injured. Planning for this, Bielsa had included a clause in his contract that allowed him to leave at will if Mayne-Nicholls did not remain president, and the day before the elections he held a surprise two-hour press conference.

Bielsa opened with a stunner: “I know perfectly well that I cannot and I will not work with Mr. Segovia. It is impossible for me to.”

He then went on to detail something that had not been clear up to that point. Mayne-Nicholls had proposed to him a large project that would help out not only the National Team but the smaller clubs. For example, it included the construction of a secondary, top-quality training ground that could be used not just by the National Team but by any club. Most teams in Chile are from outside Santiago, where infrastructure is rather poor in addition to the clubs themselves being worth but a fraction of the three big teams, so it would have been excellent for them to have a place to train or do their pre-season in the capital.

Segovia promised nothing of that. His proposals, if not vague, were primarily aimed at short-term monetary benefit. Such as the three big teams receiving a large chunk of TV money, the other First Division teams earning less and the Second Division teams receiving a pittance. Or the proposal of implementing a Mexican-style Draft, which the footballer’s syndicate strongly rejected.

Yet, Jorge Segovia won the elections, backed by almost every First Division team but only a couple of Second Division clubs. It’s worth noting that there 18 teams in the top tier and 14 in the second, and the former’s votes are worth double.

The Disqualification (Or Where It Gets Ugly)

A few days after the elections, a situation arose that would prove to be very controversial. Apparently, everyone had forgotten about letter “i” of article 164 of the ANFP regulations, which establishes that club presidents may not have commercial ties between their clubs and other businesses they may operate. As it turns out, the main sponsor of Unión Española is Universidad SEK…which is a private university also owned by Jorge Segovia. The ANFP Tribunals decided that this disqualified Segovia and new elections must be held in January.

A tangled web of anger, accusations and petty spite followed. Mayne-Nicholls ruled himself out of the next elections, considering it unethical, and distanced himself from the controversy. Segovia asked for the removal of a number of club presidents who also breached article 164, but he only mentioned presidents who supported Mayne-Nicholls and none who backed him, despite also breaching the rules.

The New Elections

Eventually, it died down and the two groups chose new candidates. For the HMN club, it was Ernesto Corona, ex-president of Canal del Fútbol (Literally “The Football Channel”). The opposition presented Sergio Jadue, the young president of newly-promoted Unión La Calera.

Again, the opposition triumphed and Jadue was elected the youngest ever president at only 31 years old. He immediately set about trying to persuade Bielsa to stay, even outright begging him on national TV, but the Argentine refused to speak to the new directors until they formally received the presidency. By which time he was in Los Angeles for Chile’s match against the United States, so even more days of waiting were upon the public.

Mixed Signals and Bielsa’s Decision

As Bielsa revealed in his final press conference, upon his arrival he accepted a meeting with Jadue, who expressed his desire to form a National Team committee that would include Harold Mayne-Nicholls, but Bielsa refrained from judging something that wasn’t certain. A few days later, Jadue asked if Mayne-Nicholls could be replaced by Jorge Contador, as it would be easier to gain support for. Then, in a three minute meeting on Wednesday the 2nd, the president explained he couldn’t form the committee due to a lack of support, and gave him an ultimatum for his decision: that night. Bielsa said he would send it in writing.

He did not, however, and the ANFP directors were understandably angered. They interpreted it as Bielsa wanting to remain, as there was no resignation. The next day Bielsa announced he would hold a press conference on Friday, and there he made his intentions clear in just over twenty minutes.

“The reason why I have decided to resign is because of the way he (Jadue) has acted since he assumed (the presidency). He did everything necessary for me to resign.”

Bielsa then listed what Jadue had done:

- Leaked inaccurate information to the press, including a rumor that Bielsa wanted to be fired so he would be compensated with US$ 15 million.

- Leaked Bielsa’s wages to the press, to spark the old controversy about football players/managers earning too much.

-Treating his employees badly, including stating who would replace the Under-20’s manager while said manager was in the middle of a competition.

-Bielsa never knew who really held the authority. He first thought it was Jadue, then he was led to believe it was the three big clubs, and finally all 32 professional clubs.

He was receiving mixed signals; one moment Jadue was promising to build trust, the next he was leaking rumors. Yet, he blamed the three big teams for being the ones forcing him out, never supporting him when Mayne-Nicholls was around and then starting the entire process that ended with Jadue as president. Not wanting to work in this environment, Marcelo Bielsa quit, but not before dedicating words to those who were always there for the team.

“Finally, I want to thank the footballers first and above all. Those who allowed me to work in the football of this country, I also want to thank. To those who helped me work in the football of this country, especially my closest co-workers and the people at the Juan Pinto Durán complex, I also want to thank. I would also like to say goodbye to these people.”

“Finally, I consider my three years in Chile one of life’s gifts. I learned to love life by living here. I am proud and thankful for having lived on this soil. I know that it is I who lose by leaving. I tried to stay, but I couldn’t. To the footballers, and to the Chilean people, I want to say: thank you very much.”

Bielsa stood up on the edge of tears, and left in silence.

(pic via Javier Araneda on Flickr)

Chile, Football in Latin America, Marcelo Bielsa, Politics and Society