It was never meant to end like this

Adam Pope, BBC Radio Leeds

It was never meant to end like this.

Marcelo Bielsa - the romantic who restored Leeds United to the Premier League, playing the purest of football - makes the saddest of farewells.

The final knockings of his tenure were painful to watch but his legacy will shine far beyond the scenes of some of his staff in tears in the stand and the club in peril of relegation after a fourth consecutive and heavy defeat to Spurs.

Without ever wanting to be the focus of attention his humility, philosophy and ability immediately endeared him to the fanbase and put him at the epicentre of a beautiful revolution.

That change began in earnest in the pre-season of 2018 by the end of which he had revitalised a squad who put newly relegated Stoke City to the sword in his first competitive fixture.

'Bielsa ball' was born and the players, stands and city were bouncing. Since then the results have spoken for themselves although the superlatives have been exhausted in describing the beauty with which many of them have been achieved.

Early in that first campaign I recall supporters applauding Bielsa at the services on the way home from a 3-0 crushing of Norwich City. They were smitten already.

His ability to convince his charges of his methods was swift too. Asking them to go again and secure promotion after the heartbreak of play-off semi-final defeat is testament to his extraordinary coaching.

The humble way in which he coped with the Spygate saga, his refusal to criticise officials and his desire through his work to bring joy to lives that may otherwise contain little are just some of the traits to remember him by.

Bielsa delivered promotion, when many could not, so it would have been fitting for him to have seen out his fourth and final year maintaining the Whites' top flight status; but football does not work like that.

With 20 goals conceded in five games and the side spiralling towards the bottom three the wind of change has blown through Elland Road.