Jesse Marsch has indicated that he is taking Leeds United’s hunt for a trophy “very seriously” but he understands that there is a long way to go.
The 49-year-old has almost had a year in charge of Leeds United and they face Accrington Stanley in the fourth round of the FA Cup this weekend.
Marsch won three straight Major League Soccer Cups as a player, managed Red Bull Salzburg to the Austrian ‘double-double’ and also helped RB Leipzig reach the German cup final as assistant to Ralf Rangnick.
He said: “You do this job to win trophies and I’ve been lucky enough to be part of teams that have done that.
“Whether it was at Leipzig, as an assistant and as a head coach we had a very good cup record, at Salzburg a very good cup record, as a player a very good cup record, as a coach in MLS a very good cup record.
“It’s because I’ve always taken it very seriously. I’ve always known it’s an opportunity for glory.
“Talking to me now, it’s way too early for us in this process and in the tournament to start talking about that.
“But obviously, everything we do here, every morning I get up at the crack of dawn, I do it with the idea of getting our club closer to the possibility of even having that discussion internally and then, ultimately, winning.
“That’s why I do this. I love people, I love relationships and I love leadership, but I want to be a winner. Period. That’s why I do this.”
Leeds, beaten in three FA Cup finals under Don Revie in the 1960s and 70s and winners for the only time in 1972, have a poor record in the competition.
They have fallen at the first hurdle in each of the last five seasons and are bidding to reach the fifth round for just the fourth time in 20 years with victory at Sky Bet League One side Accrington.
Marsch added: “Well I’d heard going into to FA Cup this year that we hadn’t had a home match for quite some time, that we hadn’t got out of the fourth round in quite some time.
“So I was aware of these things. The exact details of what year, what match, what scoreline, all those things, not exactly clear.
“But internally we’ve talked that we want to push in this tournament. We want to give ourselves a chance and our fans a chance to have a cup run. So everybody on the inside for sure is clear on that.”
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