Jesse Marsch will sit down in front of the local and national media this afternoon to preview Sunday's FA Cup trip to Cardiff City in a brief respite from what has been an intense return to Premier League action following the World Cup.
A defeat to champions Manchester City was followed by hard-fought draws at Newcastle and at home to West Ham, which has left Leeds United sitting 14th in the Premier League table, two points above the drop zone.
After opening up about the stresses of the job following the St James' Park draw, Marsch has twice namechecked a century-old speech from former American president Theodore Roosevelt which has inspired him and helped outline why he continues to relish the challenge of competing in the planet's biggest football league.
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Marsch's first mention of the 'Man in the Arena' passage came when he was asked where is finding enjoyment in his job, prior to West Ham.
"The enjoyment is the people, the players and the relationships we have," he began. "And then the people that are in the staff and in the extended staff and the people that work for the club. The joy in the relationships.
"Listen there's nothing better than standing in the box before the whistle, it's right where you want to be, maybe you guys have read ‘The Man in the Arena’. It's right where we all want to be, but it's also awful, it's stressful beyond belief. And then what determines matches with such a fine margin of success and failures is always in the sport not so easy to process."
A second mention of the speech followed in his next press conference after Leeds came back to earn a share of the points against the Hammers on Wednesday evening. When asked how to get more bravery into the players, Marsch replied:
"You're absolutely 100 per cent correct and that is the question and I tell you that even when I had the conversation with you guys about being stressed, that has nothing to do with courage. I'm here in this position because I like to be in these situations and that's why I’ve even said to you about the start of the whistle, ‘The Man in the Arena’, when I talk to you about these things because it's where I want to be, and we have to make sure that we get that into our players.
"I said to them again, the inner Klichy, the guy who wants to be in the toughest moments that's not afraid that doesn't care almost. I think that it's a lot to do with the players care so much that they harbour so much responsibility on themselves and we have to free them to know that the only way to be winners is to play with belief and confidence."
So what is the 'Man in the Arena' speech and why is it so famous?
Teddy Roosevelt delivered the 'Man in the Arena' passage during a longer speech entitled 'Citizenship in a Republic' at the Sorbonne in Paris on April 23, 1910, with the famed section entering popular culture in both the USA and beyond.
Basketball icon LeBron James has #ManInTheArena written on his shoes, while it was also the title for an ESPN series on NFL superstar Tom Brady. Former South Africa president Nelson Mandela also gave a copy of the speech to Francois Pienaar, the skipper of the South African rugby union side prior to the 1995 World Cup, which they went on to win.
Theodore Roosevelt's 'The Man in the Arena' passage in full
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."
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