The Marcelo Bielsa era at Lazio— such as it was— is over.
On Wednesday, Lazio announced that they had signed the 60-year-old Argentinian as their manager. Bielsa had been without a job since early last season, when he left his post at Marseille after the first game of the league campaign. The club announced he and his staff would arrive in Rome this weekend and, presumably, be available for public comment.
It seems like such a different world. Those heady days of Wednesday, when contracts were being signed and press releases were being sent. It was a world in which all things seemed possible.
That world of infinite promise has been taken from us, and a deep, dark gloom has fallen on our lives. We may never know happiness or hope ever again.
That’s because earlier today Lazio announced that Bielsa had resigned from his post.
“We note with surprise the resignation of Mr Marcelo Bielsa, also on behalf of his employees, in clear violation of the commitments undertaken with the contracts signed last week,” the club announced in an official press release.
It’s unclear why Bielsa dropped everything and walked away. Maybe he was blamed for the poor performance of his new signings. Maybe the results weren’t going his way. Maybe he felt he had been at Lazio long enough to warrant a pay raise, and left when club executives made it clear it would not be forthcoming.
Or maybe Bielsa felt he had achieved everything he could with I Biancocelesti; that, like Busby and Shankly before him, he decided that all the mountains had been conquered and there was nothing more he could do. That it was time, as Scripture says, to sit under his own vine and fig tree, and that no one shall make him afraid.
Bielsa’s long and successful tenure as Lazio manager is over, but the memories of his time in Rome will linger with us all the days of our lives.
In the meantime, Lazio are considering legal action against Bielsa, because obviously.