BALL BOY WHO BECAME A KING
He wins with elegance, not swagger, and can be the greatest of them all
Pep GUARDIOLA was full of promise as the skinny youngster I remember when I was manager of Barcelona in the mid-eighties.
It is a promise he has fulfilled way beyond reasonable expectations, not only as a player of the highest order but as a manager acknowledged as the most successful of his era and probably everyone else’s.
We have just witnessed the most significant of his successes here in england, achieved with Catalan style — free-flowing, entertaining, winning football.
He has demolished Manchester City’s rivals for the premier League title with time to spare and in doing so has raised the bar with thrilling performances match after match. They didn’t just grind them out. It has been beautiful to watch.
pep’s beliefs determine how his team play, the way I wanted my teams to play, so put me down as one of his admirers.
They pass fast. One-touch, two- touch, three- touch. They press. They play in the opposition half, confuse the defenders, exhaust them and take advantage of that. Tired defenders make mistakes.
They pummel the opposition and leave them like a boxer with both hands up to his head desperately trying to protect himself.
They attack relentlessly but they are also very strong defensively; an absolute must. Cracks have appeared. Being turfed out of the FA Cup at Wigan was a blip.
The two very disappointing nights against Liverpool in the Champions League and the defeat by Manchester United when they were expected to confirm the title at the etihad were serious downers — but these will not have sidetracked pep. He is not a man to be knocked from his stride.
However, you cannot concede as they did, or you risk damaging the hard work. They will all learn from this. Complacency is the enemy. When you think you can walk on water it is a serious misjudgment. I cannot imagine them making the same mistakes again.
If I can look back for a moment at my arrival at Barcelona all those years ago, it was to take over from Cesar Luis Menotti who had managed Argentina to World Cup victory in 1978.
even with Diego Maradona he couldn’t win La Liga because his team forgot how to defend, or rather were never taught. That was the flaw I learned after spending hours poring over videos of Cesar Luis’s matches and that was the problem that had to be solved.
My remit was to do what Barcelona wanted of me as a young modern coach — find a way to win. How we did that was my choice. We worked on a pressing game to utilise the ability of my players, a set-up that has been developed since by Johan Cruyff and others.
To play as pep’s teams have played this season also requires extra strength and stamina that can only be achieved by a demanding training regime of the type I used at Barcelona and had earlier introduced at Crystal palace, QpR and later at Tottenham, involving British Olympians Ron Jones and then Fatima Whitbread. The players initially loathed the athletic approach. ‘We play with the ball’ they would moan as they vomited.
They eventually accepted that the torturous sprint sessions gave them the power to outlast all opposition. It was a plus when we won our first La Liga title in over a decade in my first year with Allan Harris, my late and greatly missed friend who was by my side throughout. There has to be an affinity, love and devotion towards the manager’s teachings, an unflinching belief in what they are doing. There has to be total buy-in and for all managers it is hard love. The players must accept the discipline he imposes on them.
pep has his detractors who will argue that any coach and manager would create an equally successful team with the same financial resources.
The hundreds of millions available to pep, and he has spent plenty, is more help than hindrance. Money can buy success, but only rarely the pep way with his bright mind and vision.
Anyway, City had thrown money at it before and didn’t play like this prior to pep’s arrival.
If four of his current talents are Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva, Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling then he didn’t buy them. What he has done is make them more valuable, he has made them better players. He is proving he sees no limits. First it was success at Barcelona then Bayern Munich where he left the rest trailing. It is england’s turn to stand back, admire and recognise. pep has contributed to the status of our domestic game worldwide.
I have declared an interest in pep, having followed his career since he was a talented youngster, not just happy but keen to be one of our ball boys such was his determination to succeed at his club. Ball boy! It is an essential part of their training at Barcelona where every grade of coach and players met every day at our La Masia centre.
This exceptional title victory is an inspiring example of how to win with elegance, not swagger. The only question to be answered is how the others will respond to an even greater challenge after pep strengthens his squad this close season.
I don’t know how long he will stay at City but as long as he does his team will be trying to beat the hell out of all rivals by playing classy, quality, football. Terry Venables was talking to Alex Montgomery.