I
have to say it is great to be back doing this. Indeed it has been long since my
last post and I can only hope I haven’t lost my touch. With that out of the
way, I’ve got to admit this is not what I was going to write about initially.
That honor was to go to the upcoming Manchester Derby cum Premier League title
decider, but the events of the past few days have necessitated otherwise.
In
that period of time, one team has dominated football headlines for rather
strange reasons. Yes, your guess is as good as any, FC Barcelona. In the space
of just six days, this all-conquering side has surrendered the La Liga title to
bitter rivals Real Madrid, relinquished their hold on the Champions League
title rather unceremoniously to Chelsea and to cap all that, the inspiration
behind their success, legend and coach Josep Guardiola decided to call time on
his 4-year reign at the Catalan club. Of course this is nothing new in
football. Teams do crash out of multiple competitions in a matter of days (read
Wenger’s Arsenal) and coaches/managers come and go. It happens all the time. So
what makes this case so unique and a stand out?
When
Pep took over from Frank Rijkaard in 2008 as the manager of Barca, he was
relatively unknown out of Catalonia and Spain (at least his coaching career).
When I for one heard the news of his appointment I was a bit shocked. With the
success that Rijkaard had brought to the Blaugrana, it was always going to be
widely expected for his replacement to be an established and proven tactician
in club football. Not that I hadn’t heard of the name ‘Guardiola.’ Far from it
though, at the turn of the century, I had seen and heard of him in action in Barca’s
midfield and ultimately at Roma. For some time after he retired from football,
nothing much was heard from Pep till the appointment to the Camp Nou seat came.
As I came to learn, in between he was in charge of Barcelona B, his mandate
being to churn out first class youngsters who would then seamlessly integrate
into the first team. So all in all as much as it was a strange choice by the
Barcelona leadership, it wasn’t so far-fetched.
Fast
forward to the end of Guardiola’s first season at the helm and Barcelona were
the Spanish, King’s Cup and European champions…and not only that, they did that
with breath-taking performances hardly witnessed at the top level before. The
man had come good, even beyond everyone’s wildest imagination. It didn’t seem
like Jose Mourinho was the best anymore. Four years and 13 titles later, he is
calling it quits citing he has nothing more to give. Shocking, isn’t it? I
mean, with such a stellar record of averaging over 3 trophies per season no one
who be expected to walk away. Not forgetting the fact that the team he has
built has broken all records and in fact revolutionized football in the way it
is played. I for one never thought that one could be able to fuse beautiful
one-touch possession football with devastating swift attack and miserly
defending to produce spectacular mind blowing results. I always thought
something has to give, that something has to be sacrificed for the overall
final objective to be realized. Pep Guardiola defied this.
Why
quit now (or at the end of the season to be precise)? Fine, he said in his
press conference that he felt he had nothing more to give. Is this true though?
Or does he fear that he’s now staring at failure straight in the face? Is he
that result-oriented that he’s afraid of facing the world when things don’t go
well? He said four years in charge of Barcelona feels like an eternity, but what
then would the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger say or think about
that? I mean these are managers who have been on the job at big clubs for a
combined total of over 40 years! One would think that if there was ever a
perfect time for Guardiola to draw the curtains on his tenure, it would have
been last May after he won the Champions League title for the second time as
manager. It would have been a fitting end, having won it twice to dispel any
doubts, the La Liga thrice and while having a world champion medal to show for
his brilliance, all these at a time when he had to contend with Jose Mourinho,
a man who many (me included) herald as the best in the business. Why chose to
pull the plug now just when he’s lost both the European and domestic title? The
heart has its reasons, but still…
The
norm for the football world now would be to start linking Pep with plum jobs
all over Europe, but that seems rather unlikely given the fact that he has said
he needs at least a year’s break from the game to get over the ‘emptiness’ he’s
experiencing. Whether he’ll stick to his word we’ll just have to wait and see
given the apparent availability of top-drawer managerial and coaching jobs on
offer. England national team, Inter Milan, Chelsea, Aston Villa just to name a
few vacancies that would be triggered by the availability of a name like Pep
Guardiola. Alright, maybe the mention of Aston Villa in that context is a bit
sensational but like sports manufacturer Adidas’ mantra goes, impossible is
nothing.
So
what becomes of Guardiola’s beloved Barca? Well apparently his assistant, Tito
Vilanova has been officially ear-marked to replace him at the end of the
season. Yes, Vilanova, another relatively unknown entity. Though if you’re keen
you’ll have seen a constant figure seated next to Pep in the Barca dugout
during matches. That’s the man. In fact, he’s the Barcelona official who was
finger-poked in the eye by Jose Mourinho during one of those fiery,
adrenalin-charged El Clasicos last season. Certainly his appointment represents
continuity to his predecessor’s policy and is also a safe bet. Can he deliver?
History has it that assistants don’t often soar as high as their bosses, when
given the chance, but looking at Joachim Loew and Roberto Di Matteo for
instance, maybe the tide is turning.
From
a football fan’s perspective, of course one would want to see Barcelona
continue raising the bar in terms of style of football played and productivity
that comes along with it. Then again this change in Barcelona leadership
represents a paradigm shift of sorts to their rivals both at home and in
Europe. It is the end of an era, yes, but it might as well be a sabbatical to
recharge batteries with the aim of a more incisive stab
in the future. Here’s wishing Pep Guardiola a fulfilling break. Do come back
though.
