Four-game scrap to keep Leeds up can whet Marsch’s appetite for adversity

The mood in the room was heated, bordering on mutinous. It was January 2015 and the New York Red Bulls had decided to organise a town-hall meeting with season-ticket holders, a decision they were quickly beginning to regret. Ten days earlier the club had sacked their wildly popular coach Mike Petke. Now, on a freezing Friday night in Harrison, New Jersey, about 300 furious Red Bulls fans wanted to know why.

Even though the meeting was supposed to be off the record and no media were invited, footage of the chaotic evening quickly found its way online. The general manager, Marc de Grandpre, and sporting director, Ali Curtis, were mercilessly heckled and interrupted at every turn. “You guys don’t know shit!” one fan shouted at them. Some supporters demanded a refund of their season tickets. Others simply wanted to express their disdain for the decision to sack Petke, a man who had led the Red Bulls to some of the greatest successes in their history, and replace him with an unfancied young coach called Jesse Marsch.

For Marsch, who had been given the job 10 days earlier despite possessing the bare minimum of coaching experience in Major League Soccer, it was the most intimidating introduction imaginable. As insults flew across the room, as livid New Yorkers vowed never to visit the stadium again, Marsch simply sat calmly and listened. Eventually, it was his turn to grasp the microphone and speak, and one fact immediately became arrestingly clear. He was enjoying himself.

“Believe it or not, I love this passion,” Marsch said. “There’s a lot of clubs in this league that would have none of this. I know how privileged I am to be the coach of this team. I’m excited to be here.”

“You have one year,” one fan shouted at him.

“You