Shaken by his failed experiments with unknown quantities, Andrea Radrizzani was determined to get a man who could make Leeds United tick when he set out to replace Paul Heckingbottom in the summer of 2018.

There were some big names on the Italians' list of possibles, but the man at the top of the list was less well-known to the run-of-the-mill football fan. Some of the world's most eminent coaches, though, certainly rated Marcelo Bielsa, a 62-year-old Argentine who had led both Argentina and Chile in World Cup tournaments. Pep Guardiola, Mauricio Pochettino and Diego Simeone all freely acknowledged the debt they owed to Bielsa and how highly they rated him.

He had achieved extraordinary things with boyhood favourites Newell's Old Boys, Velez Sarsfield and Athletic Bilbao before less successful periods with Olympique Marseille, Lazio and Lille.

The episode with Lille ended in acrimony with Bielsa sacked after a dispute over transfers and the direction of the club. The matter had been subject to a legal case with Bielsa suing for €19m in damages.

Victor Orta never thought Leeds would have a chance of capturing Bielsa when Radrizzani asked whom he considered the best man to take on his project but put forward his name regardless. When Radrizzani gave the nod, Orta set the wheels in motion.

It was not a question of persuading one of the globe's most revered coaches to take up the reins at Elland Road, it was all about allowing Bielsa to decide for himself that the revival of Leeds United, the archetypal sleeping giants, was a project worthy of his attention.

Bielsa quickly satisfied himself that this was indeed such a project, an emotion-soaked challenge that appealed to the instincts that had so endeared Newell's to him.

Bielsa was no ordinary coach and Leeds United was no ordinary club. Its name had been dragged through the mud, its history rubbished, its status dismissed as a thing of the past, but undoubtedly it was still a remarkable club, supported by remarkable fans and now owned by a remarkable man in Radrizzani. Bielsa would not manage just any old club, he had to be certain it was one with which he could empathise, in a city that he could identify with and which would fall in love with him.

And certainly, the people of Leeds fell in love with Bielsa in a way that they had not done with anyone since Don Revie. Howard Wilkinson came close when he captured the Second Division title and the league championship within two years of each other, but he lost his way and the love of the fans badly enough to be discarded four years later.

After weeks of courtship, Radrizzani got his man on 15 June, persuading Bielsa to sign a two-year contract with an option of a third. It cost a fortune with Bielsa becoming United's best paid manager ever at £6m, twice the cost of any other Championship coach and half a million more than the Football Association paid Gareth Southgate.

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'It has always been my ambition to work in England,' said Bielsa. 'I have had several opportunities to do so during my career, however I have always felt it was important to wait for the right project to come along … when a club with Leeds United's history made me an offer, it was impossible to turn down.'

'He is a coach that I have admired for many years,' said Radrizzani. 'When the opportunity arose to bring him to Elland Road, we made it our top priority for the summer … Marcelo has a wealth of experience and he will use that to create a new culture and a winning mentality at our football club.'

Angus Kinnear revealed that Bielsa's stated intention was to get the best out of the players already at Elland Road rather than bring in a mass of new recruits. He cited Liam Cooper and Kalvin Phillips as men whom Bielsa intended to develop into 'the best in the division'.

Leeds laid out £3m to secure Wolves left-back Barry Douglas but Patrick Bamford of Middlesbrough was the marquee signing, his transfer fee set at an initial £7m with the scope to climb to £10m. It was the club's most expensive transfer since the purchase of Robbie Fowler in 2001. Bamford had put himself slam bang into the centre of United's vision with his hat trick when Middlesbrough beat Heckingbottom's side in March.

Orta's insight into workings at the Riverside helped considerably and Bielsa was quickly sold on Bamford's benefits. He was perfect for the game that Bielsa wanted to play, someone who could fill the role of lone front runner in addition to scoring goals.

Bielsa was steadfast about his commitment to a small, tight squad. 12 members of the first-team and development squads departed permanently while another 20 were lent out. The greatest anguish came with fans' favourite Ronaldo Vieira sold to Sampdoria to help Leeds cope with the rules of Financial Fair Play.

It was an extraordinary cull, Bielsa clear that he did not want to have players with little chance of playing hanging around Elland Road. He was happy to rely on Academy players in the event of injury, a sharp break from previous practice.

Four players, three of them from Chelsea, were brought in on loan to add some depth, but only Manchester City wide man Jack Harrison had any genuine impact.

Pre-season was hard going, with Bielsa and his coaching team driving the players hard, intent on bringing them to peak fitness. The term 'Murderball' became a staple element of the Bielsa myth.

Mateusz Klich, the Polish midfielder who returned from loan to become a mainstay of Bielsa's United, gave some insight into the legendary training drill.

'It's basically playing 11 v 11 with no stops … Constantly running around and sprinting, and you have all the coaches on the pitch screaming all the time and you can't stop running. It's just a normal game with normal rules … You just play, but you can't stop running. It's tough, but it's the most important session in the week. It depends on the training how long he wants us to play. It could be five times six minutes, or one times 20 minutes. It just depends what Marcelo wants. Even if the ball goes out, there's a member of staff waiting with another ball to put it in. You can't stop.'

Certainly, by the time that the new season came around, the players' fitness was transformed. They were lean, mean and ready to run until they dropped.

Bielsa sprang several surprises on the opening day, although the adoption of a 4-1-4-1 formation was not one of them.

There were notable absentees from the starting XI in the shape of Chelsea loanee keeper Jamal Blackman, Pontus Jansson, Harrison and Bamford.

The most significant omission was Jansson, who had been allowed an extended absence following Sweden's participation in the World Cup finals. One of Bielsa's foibles was a refusal to select anyone whom he felt was not yet acclimatised to his regime. Jansson would not be the last player to experience the feeling.

Another surprise was the inclusion of Klich, whose Leeds career had appeared stillborn after Christiansen despatched him on loan the previous season. The absence through injury of Adam Forshaw and the sale of Vieira gave the Pole an early opportunity to prove he still had something to bring to the party.

Bielsa persisted with 21-year-old Bailey Peacock-Farrell in goal, despite expectations that Blackman would be first choice. Heckingbottom had turned to Peacock-Farrell after the failure of both Wiedwald and Lonergan. He had seized the opportunity well enough to earn a first cap for Northern Ireland in May.

Douglas was the only new man in the starting 11 with Gaetano Berardi taking Jansson's place and Luke Ayling and Liam Cooper completing the back four.

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Bielsa employed Kalvin Phillips as a holding midfielder, occasionally being withdrawn to make it three centre-backs — it was evident that the manager had worked closely with Phillips during the summer. The player was not entirely comfortable when Bielsa revealed his plans — Phillips as quarterback, capitalising on his ability to read the game and set moves in motion with long, raking passes.

Pablo Hernandez was used wide right in front of Klich with Samu Saiz filling the No 10 role. Gjanni Alioski was asked to drive up and down the left flank and Kemar Roofe led the line.

Leeds kicked the season off against relegated Stoke City, a team strongly fancied to go back up at the first attempt. Many thought United would struggle to contain them, even more so when they saw Bielsa's selection.

They should have known better. Bielsa hit the ground running and won 3-1, looking back not once after Klich opened the scoring in the 15th minute.

'I've never seen Leeds play like this,' said one overjoyed spectator, echoing the views of many of the happy faces around him.

The next game was even better, an extraordinary 4-1 victory at Derby County. Klich again set the ball rolling after five minutes and Roofe showed the Bielsa Effect, playing better than he ever had and scoring two breathtaking goals.

A year earlier, Christiansen had flattered to deceive, but Bielsa looked like a genuine Messiah in waiting. Bielsa's impact was extraordinary, coaxing wonderful performances from a squad that the previous year had looked distinctly average.

Rotherham were easy meat and Leeds squeezed a point out of Swansea before another superb display, away to Norwich. Klich's third goal of the season got the show on the road again and Leeds blossomed in the sunshine, making the Canaries look inept in a 3-0 hammering that was over long before Hernandez wrapped things up with the third goal after 67 minutes.

The influence of the Spanish playmaker had quickly become evident to Bielsa.

'It's obvious that Hernandez has been very important to our team,' said the Argentine. 'He is the player who has the best regularity and he's the player with the biggest influence in the control of the games. He's a very intelligent player.'

Asked to expand on the importance of the Spaniard, Bielsa commented, 'I think he can make me a better head coach because I see solutions he is finding and decisions he is taking, that I only saw a very few times during my career.'

Some had expressed serious doubts about Bielsa, that he was a spent force with his best years behind him. They counselled that he would struggle to cope with the prosaic demands of Championship football, but they could not have been more wrong.

Unwilling to compromise, he imposed his commitment to attacking football and the intense press. He set the agenda rather than responding to it.

'We play football as she is meant to be played.'

After a delightful unbeaten opening run of eight games with four clean sheets, Leeds looked like they would coast to promotion. The fans glowed with excitement, but their confidence was shaken by three defeats in the nine fixtures that followed.

The last of those, by 4-1 at promotion rivals West Bromwich Albion on 10 November, appeared critical, as Leeds relinquished the leadership of the division to Norwich. Normal order was restored with a lengthy winning streak.

Two days before Christmas at Aston Villa, Leeds fell two goals behind after seventeen minutes. It looked like the run was done, but 18-year-old winger Jack Clarke came off the bench at half-time to inspire a blistering comeback. Eleven minutes in and Clarke came flying off the left flank to jink past several defenders before firing home. Five minutes later Jansson powered home a towering header to make it 2-2.

It appeared that would be it, a decent point, but Roofe fired home the winner in the fifth minute of stoppage time to spark incredible scenes.

It was even tighter in the next game, on Boxing Day against Blackburn. Everything seemed to be going to plan when Leeds took the lead after 33 minutes, but Rovers equalised two minutes into the second half. When Charlie Mulgrew gave them a lead at the death, things looked desperate, but Roofe scored twice in injury-time to secure another breathtaking 3-2 victory.

United's momentum was halted by two defeats over the following six days as Leeds demonstrated their vulnerabilities. They retained top spot, but Norwich, Sheffield United and West Bromwich Albion were closing fast. Exit from the FA Cup at QPR was irrelevant given the second string nature of Bielsa's selection but a chance to restore some confidence was lost.

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Faith in Bielsa's leadership remained strong but United had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory on too many occasions in the past to take anything for granted — supporters refused to put any stock in the noise about teams on top at Christmas always securing promotion.

As Leeds prepared for their home game with Derby on 11 January, Bielsa despatched a member of staff to covertly observe the Rams' training session. When he was spotted and reported to the police, there was a huge furore about the ethics of the matter and a self-righteous Frank Lampard accused Bielsa of a lack of sportsmanship. There was a flurry of support for Lampard with media pundits pillorying Bielsa. 'Spygate' was a storm in a teacup, though the noise dragged on for months, with a number of Leeds' Championship rivals demanding an inquiry.

As luck would have it, Sky Sports was covering the game on a freezing Friday night. Anchorman Scott Minto described what it was like as the tension ramped up.

'The whole running order of the show was ripped up. We had done all our prep in the days before and then travelled to Leeds, and then this massive story breaks. We arrived at the ground and it all felt very different. It is a rare thing to get big, breaking news like that on the day of a game, so it was all so fresh and exciting to cover. To give credit to Bielsa, he wanted to come out and talk, and it added a huge element of importance to the show.'

Bielsa fronted up and admitted that he had indeed sent someone to spy on Derby's training session, adding that it was something he had always practiced.

'I would have thought it would have impacted more negatively upon Leeds as they were the ones being called unsportsmanlike,' added Minto, 'but it seemed to have more of an effect on Derby. Leeds, meanwhile, seemed to rise to it … It was one of their best displays of the season, and probably one of Derby's worst. It was quite surprising.'

Leeds won 2-0 to maintain their promotion push, but the club was fined £200,000 by the EFL for the incident.

Leeds announced that Bielsa would hold an impromptu press conference later in the week, prompting some to speculate that he was going to walk away from the club. Not a bit of it, as the Argentine delivered an elaborate presentation to demonstrate that surveillance was merely the cherry on the cake of the vast preparation that he lavished on every game.

Bielsa settled the fine himself, saying, 'The sanction [the EFL] gave us of £200,000 — it is a financial sanction against the club, not against me, but I am responsible for it. That is why I paid it from my pocket, the financial sanction.'

In a trice, Bielsa had defused all the criticism and emerged with even more support than he previously enjoyed.

Klich played up to the controversy at the final whistle against Derby, putting both hands to his eyes in a 'binocular' gesture. Leeds fans loved it on Twitter and devised Stop Crying Frank Lampard, a mickey-take of the Oasis song Stop Crying Your Heart Out.

If Leeds laughed things off at the time, they were soon less happy, stumbling through the weeks that followed, losing at Stoke, winning narrowly at struggling Rotherham and losing at home to Norwich. The Canaries took top spot on goal difference as Sheffield United closed to within three points after thirty games.

The promotion battle between the three joined in earnest, with two automatic slots on offer.

After 15 Championship starts for him, the manager decided that Samu Saiz was not a Bielsa man, sending him off on loan to Getafe in Spain on New Year's Day. The fans implored Bielsa to strengthen in the window, but all they got was a goalkeeper to replace Blackman, who had returned to parent club Chelsea after breaking his tibia.

That said, the goalkeeper was a big name. Kiko Casilla had won three Champions League medals with Real Madrid and United made him the highest paid player at Elland Road.

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It was not that Leeds hadn't pursued others. Victor Orta nearly signed Daniel James, the Swansea winger, but the Swans went cold on the deal in the closing hours of the window to leave both Orta and James beside themselves with dismay.

Leeds regained their form in February and gave a wonderful display on 1 March to hammer West Brom 4-0 at Elland Road. The victory allowed them to leapfrog Norwich and Sheffield United to regain top spot, though the Canaries won at Millwall the next day to regain their ascendancy.

United won their next two games at Bristol City and Reading without conceding but Norwich and the Blades stubbornly dogged their steps.

And next up were Sheffield United at Elland Road. Victory would give Leeds a five-point cushion over the visitors.

Unfortunately, the Whites couldn't make home advantage count and Sheffield inflicted a mortal wound, scoring the only goal of the game after 71 minutes. To add to the pain, Casilla was sent off in injury-time.

Leeds slipped to third but bounced back a week later to defeat Millwall while the Blades lost at home to Bristol City. Fortunes fluctuated wildly over the course of the final 20 minutes. After 71 minutes, Sheffield took a 2-1 lead with Leeds losing by the same score. Ayling instantly equalised for the Whites. 77 minutes and Weimann scored for Bristol and six minutes later Hernandez won the game for Leeds just as Weimann completed his hat trick to finish off Sheffield. It was almost more than nerves could bear.

With seven games to go, Norwich had pulled well clear at the top and Leeds had a two-point advantage over Sheffield United. Surely, Bielsa's men had enough in the tank to see out the job?

Never say such a thing to a Leeds United fan!

On 6 April, Norwich rubbed in their superiority by beating QPR 4-0, and it was suddenly advantage Sheffield United as they won at Preston while Leeds stumbled to defeat at Birmingham.

Three days later, and another twist with Leeds winning 2-0 at Preston and Sheffield held to a draw at Birmingham. Five games to go and Leeds ahead by a point as the tension grew.

Sheffield United gave Leeds more encouragement when they could only draw at home to Millwall in the lunchtime kick off on 13 April. Bielsa's men capitalised when Jack Harrison scored the only goal of the game with Sheffield Wednesday.

Three points clear of the Blades, Leeds now needed ten points from their remaining four games to confirm promotion.

Just as the finishing line came into sight, something got hold of the United players.

On 19 April they had a 'gimme' at home to relegation-threatened Wigan. They had seen Sheffield escape with a victory from a testing game at home to Nottingham Forest, but they started as if they were going to romp home against the Latics.

Things looked good after 14 minutes when Wigan centre-back Cedric Kipre was dismissed for handling on the line. Hernandez rapped his spot kick against the post, but three minutes later Bamford latched onto a through ball and hammered home confidently.

Leeds threatened to run riot but they let Wigan back into the contest and Gavin Massey shot past Casilla to equalise just before the break. 17 minutes into the second half, the same player headed Wigan ahead and they withstood everything an anxious Leeds side could throw at them and secured a shock victory.

'Destiny gave us a red card, a penalty and 15 chances to score,' said a mortified Bielsa. 'We simply should have won that game today. I am sad at this defeat, but I am very motivated. We have had a good season, but it will mean nothing if we do not get promoted … This is a very serious wound in the worst moment.'

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It was a day to forget, but it was almost impossible for Leeds supporters to do so. They could almost hear the strains of 'Leeds, Leeds are falling apart — AGAIN' at rivals' stadia all across the country.

It made the trip to Brentford a must win, but Leeds' record against the Bees at Griffin Park was dismal. They had not won at the ground since August 1950 and when Sheffield United ran out easy lunchtime winners at Hull, the task became monumental.

Bielsa recalled Cooper and Forshaw in place of Berardi and Phillips and Leeds dominated the early stages with Bamford firing wide from inside the area. Leeds were furious when they were inexplicably denied a penalty after Julian Jeanvier swept Bamford's legs from under him. Referee Keith Stroud shrugged off the appeals but it was an obvious injustice.

Brentford took the lead on the stroke of half-time after Sergi Canos played Neil Maupay in on goal.

Leeds had the early chances in the second half but Canos was in inspired form and doubled Brentford's lead after 62 minutes, flicking the ball past Casilla. Maupay nearly made it three two minutes later but skied an acrobatic effort.

The body language of Bielsa and the players told the story at the end. Hernandez left the field in tears and the coach admitted his side's automatic promotion chances looked slim. The Argentine shook every one of his players' hands at the end 'because we all saw that our possibility to finish first and second were decreasing … and the players felt that too. I thought they deserved that for all the effort they made.'

Sheffield United virtually wrapped things up the following Saturday by beating Ipswich. They had a six-point lead and a goal difference superiority of 13.

It made Leeds' game on the Sunday against Aston Villa, the division's form side, a dead rubber but somehow United found the resilience to dominate. The afternoon would be remembered, however, for a controversial five-minute spell as the game moved into its final quarter.

All afternoon, Villa had infuriated the Leeds fans with their outrageous diving and when Cooper left Jonathan Kotja sprawling with a heavy tackle, there were only cheers round Elland Road. As the ball fell to Roberts, several Villa players pulled up, expecting him to put it out to allow treatment.

Roberts passed down the line to Klich, who later claimed he hadn't seen the incident, and went on to score, provoking mayhem. The Villa players were incensed and manhandled Klich disgracefully; Bamford appeared to go down injured, claiming he had been punched and Anwar El Ghazi was shown the red card. Villa boss Dean Smith and assistant John Terry stridently confronted Bielsa and his coaching staff and matters threatened to get out of hand.

The game resumed after a stoppage of five minutes with Bielsa directing his players to allow Villa to score. Jansson was unsympathetic and attempted a tackle, but his teammates obeyed Bielsa's instructions and Albert Adomah walked in the equaliser.

Bielsa was lauded afterwards for his sportsmanship, but merely said, 'We just gave the goal back. Everyone saw the facts. We expressed our interpretation of the facts by doing what we did. English football is known for this [sportsmanship].'

Bamford was given a retrospective two-match suspension for attempting to deceive an official and El Ghazi's red card was rescinded.

Leeds lost their final game against Ipswich, but the result was irrelevant with all eyes on the lottery of the play-offs and a resumption of the season-long feud with Frank Lampard and Derby County.

It appeared that Leeds had done the hardest part of the job at Pride Park after Roofe's 15 goal of the season earned first-leg victory.

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Derby were incensed when assistant referee Eddie Smart persuaded referee Craig Pawson to overturn his award of a penalty to the Rams with 14 minutes to go — Harrison had been adjudged to have fouled Jayden Bogle.

The home side also felt Klich should have been dismissed for a butt to Fikayo Tomori's chest as he rose to his feet after going down under a challenge. He was given a yellow card over the incident.

The match served merely as an appetiser for the game of the season as Bielsa and Lampard locked horns again at Elland Road on 15 May.

It was an emotion-filled evening at Elland Road with the Leeds fans in fine voice. Bamford returned to replace the injured Roofe while Bielsa left the fit again Jansson on the bench.

It was a feisty encounter from the first whistle — Leeds fans took a particular dislike to Derby captain Richard Keogh who threw his considerable bulk about without incurring the wrath of referee Anthony Taylor.

Leeds were on the front foot early doors and after 24 minutes, Dallas pounced when Cooper's header came back off the post. He slammed the ball home to give his side a two-goal aggregate lead. The roar echoed into the night sky as Leeds took a massive step towards the Wembley final.

They were playing well if not quite at their best, but Lampard shook things up, bringing Jack Marriott off the bench a minute before the break. He had an instant impact and when Casilla came racing out to deal with a situation that Cooper seemed to have under control, the two Leeds men got in each other's way and the ball ran clear for Marriott to poke home.

Leeds came out after the break ready to snatch back the momentum but they never got the chance. A minute in, Chelsea loanee Mason Mount put Derby ahead on the night.

Just before the hour, Cooper was adjudged to have pulled Mason Bennett's shirt in the area and the referee awarded Derby a penalty. Liverpool loanee Harry Wilson made no mistake from the spot and suddenly the Rams were ahead.

Within four minutes, the aggregate scores were level when Dallas scored his second, cutting in from the left to fire home spectacularly.

Such moments often spark a fightback and certainly Leeds had the best of the next ten, but they lost their way when Berardi was sent off after 78 minutes for retaliating after several heavy challenges. Seven minutes later and Marriott poked Derby ahead.

Rams defender Scott Malone was dismissed for a second yellow in injury-time, but Leeds were beaten, sentenced to a tenth successive season in the Championship.

Tears were shed all around Elland Road and Bielsa summed up a sad evening afterwards. 'It's a painful situation and I'm disappointed. We should have had one or two more in the first half and then the second half broke immediately. We lost control. We had twenty minutes without control and I couldn't find a solution.'

His voice trailed away wistfully as he gazed into the far distance. On that devastating evening, no one knew whether Marcelo Bielsa would be back to try again.

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