![]() To paraphrase the words of Eric Morecambe, “all the right words, but not necessarily in the right order,” because the reality is – “he has been with the top clubs BECAUSE he has been so successful”. The other absurd notion is that Pep “has only been so successful because he has been with top clubs” and it is spouted by those who fail to realise the idiocy of the statement. What is needed is someone at the helm steering the ship, someone respected, trusted and capable and when that person leaves or loses any of the said attributes in the eyes of the team or is replaced by someone generally not perceived to possess them, titanic battles ensue and the iceberg spotted on the horizon looms ever closer. The cancer that would finally take his life meant that while he was undergoing treatment the team was effectively managing itself and the loss of form was tangible.įootball teams should no more be self-managing, than hospital patients should be self-medicating. Tito Vilanova took over at Barcelona after Pep decided to leave the club. “With that amount of money behind them, I could win the league with Manchester City,” is the usual cry, to which the only response is, “No you couldn’t.” Lessons from Barcelona Ditto football, or more precisely, great footballers.īut what really intrigues me is why his ability to buy – or at least try to buy – the very best in order to achieve his aims is constantly used as a stick to beat him with why the acid test for Guardiola should not be whether or not he can win, but rather whether or not he could win if he didn’t enjoy the massive financial backing that he does. ![]() Or, put another way and to return briefly to my musical analogy, all the really great violinists will invariably own a Stradivarius, but not all Stradivarius owners will be great violinists. READ MORE: Europe’s five biggest flops of the season READ MORE: England’s World Cup 2018 kit revealed Well of course not, because the quality of the resources you have available to do you – human or otherwise – are fundamental in your quest for success, although by no means a guarantee of it. Could Lewis Hamilton have won the Formula One world title without the best team and the fastest car? Could Roger Federer have won the Australian Open playing with a wooden Dunlop Maxply racket? Putting aside for a minute the fact that it is a very stupid question, my answer is always the same. Could Pep do what he has done at Manchester City without the financial resources he has behind him? Which brings me to the subject of Pep Guardiola and one of the issues that has been discussed more often lately. In the pursuit of excellence in whatever pastime, profession or passion that lights your fire you always want to be blessed with the very best of raw materials that will assist you on your journey to the very top. The fact that you can afford to purchase a Stradivarius is never going to guarantee your status as a violin virtuoso, although it certainly isn’t going to do you any harm.
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