Jesse Marsch has finally landed his first job back in management after his Leeds United exit back in February 2023.
Marsch was appointed as Canada’s first team boss late last night ahead of the upcoming Copa America this summer, with his contract running until after the 2026 World Cup in which they are co-hosts.
Though unlikely given the draw, Marsch could actually come up against the man he replaced as Leeds manager over two years ago Marcelo Bielsa, who is in charge of Uruguay.
Marsch has been linked to a plethora of jobs since being sacked by Leeds 15 months ago, with both Leicester City and Southampton having targeted him last season.
AS Monaco and Celtic also had a look in the summer, and at one stage he had looked destined for the hot-seat at USMNT, until they gave it back to Gregg Berhalter.
Leeds fans will be laughing after Canada’s Marsch press release
Until his appointment last night, Marsch had been speaking in interviews and on podcasts galore about his time at Leeds.
He blasted Andrea Radrizzani for the decision to fire him at the time in the season when he did, and has repeatedly insisted things were going in the right direction based on some of Leeds’ underlying numbers.
Ultimately, however, it was the run of just two wins in 17 Premier League matches that saw him sacked. Leeds were relegated that season and almost certainly would’ve been anyway even if Marsch kept his job.
And what Canada have written in their official press release will certainly have Leeds supporters laughing and probably glad he is no longer at the club.
His time at Elland Road can be categorised as nothing other than a failure yet Canada have somehow managed to place the most positive of spins on it.
They wrote: “His departure came at a time when the club sat 12th in the Premier League for non-penalty expected goals, and the club led the league in disruption of opposition passes by a large margin.”
While clearly Canada’s job is to show what good he can bring to the dugout, to dig out statistics as niche as this shows just how poor Marsch really was at Leeds.
Marsch stats that mattered during Leeds spell (Premier League)
As clearly shown by the stats that matter, Marsch was failing at Leeds and the only mistake Radrizzani made in his sacking was that it did not come earlier.
It is also pretty telling that of the seven first team signings he made in his only summer as manager, only Wilfried Gnonto has remained at the club this season.
It will certainly be interesting to see how Marsch gets on in his first job since his Leeds departure, particularly in an international role.