There’s a ghost hovering over the football world and he’s putting the frighteners on any manager currently in charge of one of the world’s mega clubs. During his year off living in Manhattan, Pep Guardiola was spotted relaxing at the Ryder Cup in Chicago… but start to type his name into Google news and it’s soon apparent that this man’s next move is the hot football topic.
Chelsea have only just appointed Champions League winner Rafael Benitez, but it’s widely assumed he’s only keeping the seat warm for Pep. And, when Sir Alex Ferguson finally quits Manchester United, then the little Catalan is a sure thing for the biggest job in English football. Newly oil rich Paris Saint Germain and Manchester City have both been linked with the former Barcelona boss and the latest rumour had him eyeing the Brazilian national job.
Not bad for a 41-year-old who’s only had one coaching job at senior level.
But what a job he did. As coach of FC Barcelona, Guardiola snagged 14 pieces of silverware in just four years – including three La Liga titles, two Copas del Rey, two Champions Leagues and two world club cups – and had made his side the subject of a burning controversy: were the greatest team ever or just of their age?
Guardiola’s work is now being carried on by his former assistant Tito Vilanova, who with a win percentage of 86.96 seems to be taking up where his former boss left off.
The smooth succession is all part of the forging of a ‘Barcelona way’ that the appointment of Guardiola heralded. He is steeped in the club and in thrall to one of its greatest heroes Johan Cruyff, who brought Dutch-style player development and tactics to Catalonia, where Total Football became Tiki Taka.
a bit of history
Josep Guardiola i Sala was born in Santpedor – one of the flattest parts of the Barcelona region, so perfect for football – and by the age of 13 was already a part of the biggest institution in Catalonia. He started his journey with the Azulgrana (the blue and red) at La Masia, the football academy that’s vital to Barcelona’s status as the best football club in the world.
Like much of the modern Barça, La Masia is Dutch in origin and the brainchild of Johan Cruyff. Cruyff’s love for his adopted home is legendary – his son Jordi bears the name of Catalonia’s patron saint – and he served the club with distinction as both player and manager. But perhaps La Masia is his greatest legacy, and there are those associated with Barça who credit Johan with transforming not just a club, but a city and a region by making football an art form.
Cruyff went from the streets of Amsterdam to his second home Jong Ajax – the fabled academy of the Dutch giants which produced the three times European Champion team of which he was such a star – and he wanted Barça to have something similar. La Masia is the result, and if its worth is in any doubt then consider that in this age of hyper-inflated transfer fees Barcelona were able to field an all home grown 11 for part of their 4-0 win against Levante on Sunday, 25 November 2012. It’s why English clubs are scrabbling to catch up and desperately hurling cash at something that’s already part of the DNA at Barça.
Guardiola came of age under Cruyff, who until the pupil became the master, was Barça’s most successful coach.
Pep made his first team debut in 1990. To complete the myth of a footballing torch being passed, the story goes that Cruyff picked youth player Guardiola on first sight and earmarked him for the crucial ‘pivote’ role that the Dutchman’s imported footballing philosophy needed. The team that Guardiola played in earned the nickname ‘The Dream Team’ from its fans as they put Barça on the international map.
Standing: Zubizarreta, Guardiola, Nadal, Koeman, Stoichkov, Txiki Begiristain.
Below: Bakero, Amor, Sergi, Ferrer, Romario
Cruyff’s side won four La Liga titles on the trot (Guardiola has six as a player), a Copa del Rey, and two European titles, 1989’s Cup Winners Cup and the European Cup. Cruyff’s record of 11 trophies was unmatched until 2011 when Guardiola’s team purred past it.
After 12 seasons and 17 years at Barça, Pep left. While he played on for clubs in Italy, Qatar and Mexico until 2006 his career was defined by the club he loved and it wasn’t long before he was back at Camp Nou.
With one of the finest teachers in the history of the game and a near lifetime at the club behind him, Guardiola’s appointment as Barcelona’s b-team coach in 2007 was a natural fit. And the man who would stay with him throughout his glorious managerial career and finally succeed him in the top job, Tito Vilanova, was at his side from the beginning.
Guardiola spent only one – successful, naturally – season in charge at the second string before landing one of the biggest jobs in world football for the start of the 2008-09 season.
The man who announced his appointment, club president Joan Laporta, had long had the backing of Cruyff as he sought to bring Barça into the modern football age and challenge the club’s hated rivals at Real Madrid. Real’s high-spending Galacticos era might not have brought a glut of trophies (although they won their ninth European Cup in 2002) but it had made Los Blancos a hugely valuable world brand.
Under Laporta, Barça too had spent big money on big name stars and seen some success as a result but Guardiola heralded something new. Before he had even taken over the first team he announced that Barça’s own Galacticos, including Ronaldinho, Deco and Samuel Eto’o, were on their way out as a new generation of home-grown Barça heroes were elevated from the club’s youth and feeder teams. Eto’o was allowed to stay after agreeing to knuckle down and join the revolution.
It didn’t start too brilliantly for the young, untried manager. An away loss in a Champions’ League qualifier that was already a dead tie was one thing, but losing at the home of newly-promoted CD Numancia on the opening day of the season was another.
But it truly was a false start: following that first loss Barcelona’s new coach guided his team on a 20 match unbeaten run that put them at the top of the table. To guarantee his place in the hearts of Barça’s fans Guardiola oversaw a 6-2 win at the Santiago Bernabéu, fortress home of Real Madrid on their way to La Liga title. Then they won their domestic cup, and then they beat Manchester United 2-0 to add the Champions League to an unprecedented treble.
Before the start of the 2010-11 season Guardiola continued his clearing out work (and added another three post-season trophies including the world club cup to make it a sextuple) and promoted more home grown players.
It wasn’t quiet the whirlwind of his first season in charge, but Barça ended the season with their 20th domestic league title won with 99 points, a European record. They were knocked out of the Champions League by Inter Milan on their way to the title under Jose Mourinho, but the world was in love with this team’s masterful command of the beautiful game.
In 2011-12 Guardiola faced Mourinho as a domestic opponent for the first time as the fiery Portuguese took over at Real Madrid. Mourinho got off to the best start in his new club’s history, until they travelled to Camp Nou, where they were thrashed 5-0 in what is regarded as one of the greatest team performances of all time. Los Blancos would win the Copa del Rey final, but in the Champions League Barça brushed past them on their way to a repeat final against Manchester United. Barça gave the reds another humbling footballing lesson as Pep won his second European crown in three seasons. They took another league title too.
His final season at Barça must rank – in this superlative record – as something of a disappointment. Real Madrid finally clicked and won the league title; eventual winners Chelsea put Barça out of the Champions league, and the club ended the season with only the Copa del Rey and two pre-season super cups.
Guardiola had delivered 14 trophies in four breathless years, unseating Cruyff in the club pantheon, and perhaps more importantly finding a new way forward for his beloved Barça. He took on board all Cruyff’s tactical lessons turning Tiki Taka into a world conquering system of fluid movement, close control and quick short passing – players speak now of being brought up in the ‘Barcelona way’.
It would be foolish to put all this success down to one man; he has built the system but needed great players to operate within it.
Lionel Messi was signed to a contract drawn up on the back of a napkin when his local clubs in Argentina decided they couldn’t stump up for growth hormone treatment. He’s still only a pocket 5’7” but a giant of the game. The last three Fifa World Player of the Year awards have his name on them and any team would be graced by his presence. But while his flowering has coincided with Barça’s almost universal acclamation as the greatest team in the world, his international side have won little. Spain meanwhile, built on a Barcelona foundation and stocked with home grown Barcelona players, have won two European championships and a world cup, breaking a host of records along the way.
Guardiola cited exhaustion as the reason for leaving Barcelona and he certainly threw himself into his task of transforming the club and has left his creation in safe hands for the future. Now, the footballing world wants to know if these extraordinary achievements were a Barcelona success or a Pep Guardiola success and are willing to pay handsomely to see if he can replicate them elsewhere.
The truth is that they were both. While Guardiola could march into any club in the world, name his price and even change the team kit to red and blue if he fancied it, it’s unlikely he’ll ever match that first, perfect footballing marriage.
If his former club can continue to produce extraordinary players to play extraordinary football – and the signs so far are good – then his legacy will be assured too.
…so catch FC Barcelona in action to see what Pep helped to create…
FC Barcelona record with Guardiola as head coach
Played : 242
Won : 175 (72%)
Drawn : 46
Lost : 21
Goals scored : 618
Goals conceded : 178
Collective trophies
2008/09 : Liga, Champions League, Copa del Rey, Spanish Super Cup, European Super Cup, Clubs world cup
2009/10 : Liga, Copa del Rey, Spanish Super Cup
2010/11 : Liga, Champions League,Clubs world cup, Spanish Super Cup, European Super Cup
2011/12 :Copa del Rey
Individual distinctions
2009
Onze d’Or best coach
La Liga coach of the year
FIISF coach of the year
WORLD SOCCER coach of the year
UEFA Coach of the year
2010
La Liga coach of the year
2011
La Liga coach of the year
Onze d’Or best coach
WORLD SOCCER coach of the year
FIFA Coach of the year
2012
Onze d’Or best coach
Golden Scarf (Best manager)
