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Coming across a personality for the first time who is widely described as 'mad' is more often or not a disappointing experience. Usually, it's your friend's highly irritating self-styled, wacky mate who becomes tiresome after two minutes, rather than someone who is most entertaining, but probably for morally dubious reasons that make you feel very ashamed of yourself, indeed.
Your correspondent was fearing the worst when catching Athletic Bilbao boss, Marcelo 'El Loco' Bielsa in action a few weeks ago with his Basque side coming to the Spanish capital for a clash against Getafe. However, the veteran Argentinean delivered in every department in the madness stakes and is top of the tree in being one of the most watchable - but extremely odd - figures in la Liga. Coincidentally, Athletic Bilbao have become one of the most watchable teams in la Liga having been involved in two of the best games of the season over the past fortnight.
Until the last summer, the words normally used to describe Athletic Bilbao were 'direct', 'tough' and 'long ball' but also 'very good' to give the team the huge amount of credit they deserve. Indeed former coach, Joaquín Caparrós, had guided Athletic into sixth and the Europa League, where the Bilbao outfit have since qualified for the knockout stages with some ease. But a change of president in an end-of-season election saw a change of philosophical direction at the club with Marcelo Bielsa taking over - a manager who had largely spend the past decade looking after the international sides of Argentina and Chile.
It was a bold move and at first it looked like being the wrong one. The team's formation was switched from a longstanding 4-4-2, built around lobbing long balls up to Fernando Llorente - an extremely useful tactic as it happens - to a 4-3-3. World Cup winning box-to-box midfielder, Javi Martínez, was moved to centre-back, a more creative central midfield partnership was formed based around the incoming Ander Herrera whilst the hugely-talented Iker Muniain was given a rampaging roll up front. Rather than sitting back and absorbing opposition attacks using the innate strength and physicality in a big, big side, Athletic's footballers were encouraged by Bielsa to put pressure high up the pitch and harass rival defenders.
Athletic's early season results were poor ones with the club failing to win until the sixth round of la Primera and struggling to comprehend the new instructions. However, Athletic's fans are a patient, supportive bunch and Bielsa's results in Europa were positive, thanks in part to a home win against big-spending Paris Saint Germain.
After a few months, the tactics began to pay dividends with Athletic managing to implant a more passing, intricate style into the team's DNA of robust, physical football. The finest example of this blend was a tremendous 2-2 draw with Barcelona on a rainy November night in San Mamés. "I told him they were beasts," admitted Pep Guardiola on what he said to a Bielsa, a mentor figure for the Barça boss, after the match. "I have never played against a team who are so intense, so aggressive."
Supporters are also beginning to become accustomed to Bielsa's weird ways. The previous coach, Joaquín Caparrós, was an extroverted, animated figure - always spotted out and about in Bilbao, chatting to fans, building relationships with the press and a constant presence in the club's incredibly successful youth system that is currently churning out World Cup winners and promising footballers who play big parts in Spain's youth teams.
The Argentinean in contrast is introverted and intense. Footballers can spend two days in a hotel before a match being briefed and re-briefed on what is expected of them in games. Bielsa has a considerably less active role in the side's training camp, speaking to very few people there. The coach has never been an official club function nor given an individual interview to the media.
In the press conference at the Getafe match when F365 first saw Bielsa in action, the manager looked like he hated every second of the contact he was forced to make with the journalists - every question was answered without confidence and with the manager looking down at the ground, his Larry Grayson-style glasses being held on with its string.
Out on the pitch, Bielsa barely sits on the bench. Instead the coach squats, squints, leans, points, patrols and sometimes buries his head in his hands as he lives every kick, every tackle of the 90 minutes of football. The reaction from the players to this display must be a bemused one to say the least.
Athletic Bilbao are currently on a charge for the Champions League places with the side sitting in sixth, just two points from fourth. The chances of achieving this goal are strong. Levante and Espanyol, the teams directly ahead of them, are unlikely to sustain the momentum required for the rest of the season. Heavyweights such as Sevilla and Villarreal are at the wrong end of the table, although a revitalised Atlético Madrid are currently staking a claim for the spot under Diego Simeone.
However, in recent weeks Bilbao have become a little anarchic in defence, an area which was traditionally a strong point. Last week against Rayo, Athletic were losing, drawing, winning, drawing and then winning again in a wonderful 3-2 victory in Vallecas, a match which saw united, left-leaning supporters standing together and singing each other's songs.
It was anarchy in the Basque Country again on Saturday in a clash against Espanyol where this time Athletic were winning, drawing, losing, drawing, winning and then drawing again with the match finishing 3-3. "I'm sad but not angry," admitted Bielsa after a fantastic affair. "We need to close off our games better," noted Javi Martínez, one of Athletic's three scorers on Saturday.
Another one of those to grab a goal was Fernando Llorente, a striker in imperious form with nine goals in the Athletic's ten goals played in 2012. The forward remains the focal point of the team's attacks, the archetypal 'good touch for a big man' player who is unrivaled in the air in la Primera but is also more than a bit handy on the ground. And another forward currently ahead of Fernando Torres in the Spain squad striking queue.
Given Athletic's limitations of their transfer policy, the club's dedication to producing homegrown talent - a net spend of just €19m in the past five years on bringing in Basque 'themed' players, often hugely overpriced - and the fact that Athletic is, to put it bluntly, a brilliant club with brilliant fans, makes it a wonderful story indeed to see them flourishing after a tough period three or four seasons ago when their Primera safety was in some doubt. Marcelo Bielsa may be quite weird, but he's also quite wonderful and is now leading one of the most entertaining sides in Spain. Long may it continue.
Round 22 Results
Athletic Bilbao 3-3 Espanyol
Levante 1-1 Racing Santander
Getafe 0-1 Real Madrid
Mallorca 1-0 Betis
Barcelona 2-1 Real Sociedad
Sporting 1-1 Osasuna
Sevilla 1-2 Villarreal
Zaragoza 1-2 Rayo Vallecano
Atlético Madrid 0-0 Valencia
Granada v Málaga (Monday)
Tim Stannard
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