Meet the New Manager
By: Isaiah | May 8th, 2008
It has been officially announced from here to Timbuktu, Josep “Pep” Guardiola will be taking over as manager of Barcelona on June 30, replacing Frank Rijkaard. I’ll do both a bio for Pep and a goodbye for Frankie in the next couple of days as I, like most others, ignore the remaining two games.
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Thanks, Jake! I’ve been really busy, but never too much for Barca.
Let’s be honest on the subject of Rijkaard’s dismissal - Laporta has handled like a complete [insert your own word here], and all because he wanted to save his own skin. Same with the hiring of Pep, who is going to be cannon fodder for the press and fans so that he can sit up in his office in peace.
Disgraceful way to treat a great guy like Frankie. Xavi’s observations are spot on.
I hope the board back Guardiola’s reforms to the fullest extent, because otherwise if he fails, it would be their fault.
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Australia
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tough line for xavi to walk — he has to be sad about frank’s departure, be excited about pep’s arrival, and not talk shit about the board. what does he (and the rest of the team) really think? i guess it doesnt matter…
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Linda — first, welcome back — I’ve being saying that about Laporta and the board for months now: they’re working to deflect all heat from themselves. The way I read it is almost conspiratorially, that they’re leaking “information” to the press so that info about players is published before anyone looks at the board itself.
Laporta is a politician before he’s a sporting director and that is the primary reason that I’ve always felt uncomfortable with him at the helm. Hopefully the socis as a whole figure this out before the next election. He’s a grandstander and was elected by promising Beckham’s arrival, which was bullshit. Even though we nabbed Ronnie, I remember thinking at the time that he was going to turn out to be a jerkoff. And here I am, years on, feeling correct…
Don’t get me wrong, though, Laporta has done some good things at the club, including trusting Frank Rijkaard at first, but as the team began to “crumble” he began to meddle too much and began to put his opinions (and the opinions of the board) before the opinions of those who would have otherwise chosen different paths. I doubt Henry arrives if Laporta isn’t in charge at that moment, to be honest.
That’s just my thought, though. Expect a lot more and much longer posts about these sorts of things throughout the coming months.
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yeah f— laporta. itll be interesting to see if rijkaard brings out any of the dirty laundry once this is over. i doubt he would do that to the players…but maybe once the roster has turned over…heh heh.
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i doubt that ballbeav..Frank exudes class and grace all over..maybe a couple of years on in an autobiography or something but I doubt if we will see anything massive by Rijkaard in the near future…one thing is for sure..there is a hell lotta politics and things happening behind closed doors that we here have no clue about which is affecting the team and its unity..Pep has to get over it and make the team united…that itself will count for so much more than just tactics…I have to admit that for the first time in a long time I have actually seen a Madrid side that I cannot make fun of straightaway..they may not have players as good as ours but they played like a team this year
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A quote from Mat’s comment divulged the biggest reason that Rijkaard is gone:
“(referencing the EE)…they may not have players as good as ours but they played like a team this year.”
That ain’t Laporta and the board’s fault.
Laporta and the board definitely handled the Rijkaard departure like crap, no question. He deserved better, as we all agree, in that it would have been easy enough to let him finish out the season and resign. But maybe he wasn’t going to resign. Dunno.
I’m also pretty empathetic to the pressures that they must be under. A club such as Barca isn’t like running Mallorca or even Villarreal or Sevilla. It’s like an international megaconglomerate.
The other question is how much was Laporta being jerked around by the board? Again, this is an uknown. Fans are putting this all on him, and I wouldn’t. And let’s not forget some of the things that happened during the era of Laporta and Rijkaard.
Two titles, Champions League, truly beautiful football, all because everyone, including Laporta, had the good sense to give Rijkaard (as someone mentioned earlier) carte blanche.
And from a social standpoint, don’t forget that it wasn’t that many years ago that Camp Nou fans were making monkey noises at Roberto Carlos. Contrast that with the other day, when on the pitch at the same time were: Henry, Yaya, Abidal, Eto’o and Thuram. Some very good things have happened with our beloved side.
It was only when things stopped working on the pitch and the team began to play WAY below its potential that Rijkaard’s neck hit the block, but that’s as it should be. If any of us suddenly started screwing up and doing terrible work at our places of employ, we should expect to be fired. And we wouldn’t be given any dignified options, either.
The board has to weigh fan outrage with expediency and sending a message to players who are considering coming to the club, etc. Who would want to sign on for another disruptive, silver-less season under the same management? Let the announcement wait two weeks, and maybe the side loses somebody they might have signed. Dunno. But again, as Mat said (our resident sage?) there is a lot of crap that goes on behind closed doors that affects decision-making.
Should this have been handled with the class and style that Rijkaard and his service deserved? You bet. Nobody (if the rumors are true) should have to find out, before a huge match such as El Clasico, that he’s out. Could it have been handled better? Dunno. Maybe, maybe not. Laporta and the board are, in many ways, damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
I’m just saying let’s not be so quick to excoriate Laporta and the board. Yes, they liked Henry. They didn’t force him down Rijkaard’s throat, nor did they insist on playing him out of position. They didn’t contribute to the clubhouse malaise, nor did they draw against team after team that they should have beaten. That’s why coaches are going, and I would suspect up to 10 players.
As Mat correctly pointed out, team unity is the biggest thing right now. That alone argued for Guardiola. At this point, the side needs a homeboy, so to speak, if only for that reason.
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A bit off topic, but I thought this was very amusing. Here is a quote of Arsene Wenger attacking AC Milan for having a “dirty” history:
“What is a big club? Is it only down to trophies? This club here has a history of being built by people of values.
“I’m not sure that in the history of Milan you’ll find the same values this club has.
“And, for me, that is a big club, a club that comes out of people’s desire to respect values. Look at our whole history, it’s clean.”
I repeat: “Look at our whole history, it’s clean.” CLEAN?!?! Does he really think exploiting Spanish law and poaching 15 year old kids from the clubs that have raised them is CLEAN? What a hypocrite. This is why my dislike for Arsenal is forever gaining.
Anyway, good thoughts, Kxevin. You are forever making me think. In reality, it is unfair to make a full judgement and play the blame game, because there is obviously so much going on behind the scenes and we have no idea.
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Berlusconi is not Franco, but might be if he could. AC Milan is EE #2.
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y’alls might want to check out the FCB website, it has Rijkaard last pre-game conference (before a home match) and also has a piece with all the nice things that previous Barca coaches are saying about Rijkaard, including Cruyff. Right now these pieces are only in spanish but hopefully they will translate it to english later today. here is a snippet from Cruyff’s comments that i translated:
“In order to value Frank Rijkaard you only have to look at how Barca was five years ago and how it is now. And we don’t need to look at only the (quality of) football, but also at the prestige of Barca in the world of football. …He has brought titles. But, above all, prestige.”
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Spot on, Jake. In many ways, Arsenal and we are a lot alike. Pretty football, our own “way,” and no depth this season, which ultimately caught us out. They, like us, had a few inopportune injuries that led to tired players and bad results at a time when they could ill afford it. Not to mention defensive lapses and back lines that went on walkabout.
Sound familiar?
Wenger hosed off the season, and might have hosed off keeping Arsenal’s best players. But his ineptitude might result in goodness for us. I wouldn’t mind (understatement of the millennium) seeing Fabregas come home, and I would LOVE to see Adebayor in the colors.
There’s a very astute commentary over on Goal.com (not good for news, pretty good for analysis) about how Wenger, in mishandling Flamini, might have also screwed the pooch on Hleb, Fabregas and Adebayor.
http://www.goal.com/en/articolo.aspx?contenutoid=686506
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Speaking of Arsenal, reports are that they are the front runners for Ben Arfa from Lyon, somebody who was on our radar.
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question for those on this blog who keep crowing about Tiago and Gai from barca B:
tomorrow’s match will see a couple of Barca B-teamers on the bench — Fali and Rueda — who are being called up for the first time. This makes, by my estimate, 6 or 7 B-teamers who have either played or been on the bench with the first team this season. Why have the heralded Gai and Tiago not been among them? Just wondering. I really dont know anything about the B-team.
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I have no idea why they would choose Rueda over Thiago. Fali is a defender. I’m not sure why they haven’t called Gai up yet, he’s played for the Israeli national team already and is going to be a hot commodity for teams raiding Barca B this summer.
My understanding is that Adebayor declared he wanted to stay just last week. He would be just about perfect, adding physicality and a dangerous arial threat. I guess who really knows, speculation runs wild this time of year.
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Kxevin..I think that Henry’s deal was something that had been followed by Laporta and the board had been following for years..(I mean I really don’t know whether Rijkaard was forced into buying him or he really wanted him..please correct me if I am wrong)..because they already knew that Gio and especially Bojan (who had awesome credentials at Barca b apparently) would be coming in and Eto’o was already there…it all does not add up somewhere…I think buying Henry was a mistake but had he come a season earlier he would have been perfect as there were no Gio or Bojan there..but retrospect is always a very good tool!!
but saying that now that we had him I think Henry should have been given his central striker spot rather than the wing one…and Bojan should have been playing more on the wing than center (although I think the team was just suprised how good Bojan was and how easily he became a starter)..he could have moved in after Henry retired or even better learned from him…the fact that that Brazilian punk ditched us in the middle of the season did not help either ..
I am not defending Rijkaard but he had a problem of too much talent on the field and too many egos in the dressing room and he just could not handle it…I think he did the best possible job a manager could do when the team was low ranked in 03..but where he failed was to maintain the motivation levels (and unity) of a team that had won everything the year before…I believe that the latter is the most difficult task a big team manager can have..
oh well..I don’t think the board had any other option this week rather than show that they are doing something to the folks who are going to come to the camp tomorrow..let’s just hope that Rijkaard gets the honor he deserves from them (smart move to save his ass by Laprta et. al.!!!)Posted from
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Hi everybody, longtime reader and new poster here.
Not to deflate everybody’s optimism about Guardiola as the new manager, but there’s a problem with it that hasn’t been mentioned here yet: as former captain under Cruyff, and seemingly getting the majority of his support from Laporta, who seems to worship Cruyff, just further extends Cruyff’s strange stranglehold over the club’s operations. In the past couple of years, I think that we’ve seen Cruyff offer his bucketloads of “opinions” whenever the team starts to struggle a bit. What’s Pep going to do when that happens, when his main backer turns into a critic? Cruyff is probably my favorite player and I also loved him as a manager, but I think his influence on the club is starting to have sour effects. If he wants to offer all those “opinions” on how things should be done, then he should just stand for the presidency (he’d probably win) or become the technical director (like he almost did at Ajax) or manager. He does the same thing for the Dutch national team, by the way, I think. The way things are now, Cruyff can be said to be de facto running things — do you really think they could have named someone manager without his approval? –, without being held accountable at all.
Now I’ll be ecstatic if Pep could prove me wrong and bring some discipline and drive to this team. For his own good, and the club’s, I just hope he knows what he’s getting into and has the balls to cut ties to Cardinal Cruyff and go about his job independently.
Also, another thing that doesn’t make sense to me is the fact that they kept Txiki as technical director. If they want this to be a multiyear rebuilding project, as their appointment of the still-green Pep seems to suggest, they should give him more autonomy in personnel decisions so they can build a team where the players actually fit the style of play (Henry, anyone?). Remember that in 2003 (or whenever) at the last elections Pep was actually the choice as technical director for the man who got second place in the elections to Laporta.
Nevertheless, despite my doubts, I’m still extremely optimistic about the future of Barçca, even for next year. From the press he’s getting right now, Pep seems to be a pretty independent guy, a midfield general who knows how to command his troops, and hopefully he can bring that mindset into his new job.
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Hey, Citizen. Welcome. I’m betting that Guardiola’s independent streak will manifest itself now that he has the main job. Reports are mixed. Some say he’ll simply be a puppet to various string-holders, others say that he knows the game, has an impeccable pedigree, and will eventually kick out the jams.
I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. You can’t have a boss and not be beholden to someone. The real trick is managing up, so to speak.
ballbeav, I suspect they want to give Fali and Rueda a run-out just to see. Thiago and Assulin are already in, so why risk anything? I suspect that other B teamers might be part of the main squad next year, for Guardiola’s comfort if nothing else.
And you’re right about Rijkaard, Mat. It takes a very special coach to take the egos that Rijkaard had and make them into a cohesive unit. He just wasn’t the man for that job. It will be interesting to see what kind of egos they give Guardiola. He mentions his intent to have “conversations” with Deco and Eto’o. I’d love to be a fly on the wall for those.
“Look, do you want to play here, or do you want to be a prick somewhere else? Your call.”
The biggest thing Guardiola needs is a Man U or Chelsea type squad, where if a guy doesn’t want to play the way he should, there’s someone else champing at the bit for that spot in the starting XI. That’s what we were missing. If Deco doesn’t want to play, who’s replacing him, really? Same at every critical position except striker.
Colin, like Henry, Adebayor has been back and forth. Flamoney, as they’ve dubbed him in Goonerland, has a lot of folks thinking. The game has become all about money, unfortunately. Adebayor went from “Arsenal for life,” to “well, if people call….” to “I want this many pounds per week. Can you pay my ass or not?”
We’ll see where he is next week or more importantly, when transfer season begins.
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Oh, I think Isaiah’s soul is pulsating with the surly. I’ll put up a preview of the match later on today. Two to go, not much to play for, but the string has to be played out.
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“. . . . the fact that that Brazilian punk ditched us in the middle of the season did not help either ..”
Let’s stay real here, Mat. In the league R10 has started 13 games and scored 8 goals.
Eto’o 16 games and 14 goals
Bojan 14 games and 10 goals
Messi 21 games 10 goalsI remember him scoring a great overhead kick (Athletico?) , a last minute penalty for victory despite only coming on a few minutes earlier and starting to show glimpses of running at people as he came back round about the Celtic game- certainly he and Silvinho had quite a few good moves down the left.
He hasn’t played for ages. In the first half of the season when he played most of his games ( lthough not many) Barca and Madrid were roughly even points wise. Since he “ditched us” the team has sunk without trace. If it were his fault they should be playing much better. If the youngsters were as good as everyone is saying we would have won the league - my God, if Messi was as effective as we’ve all been saying he would have turned some games and won them on his own.
It hasn’t happened. The team has been a disgrace since Christmas.
You can’t have it both ways. Either he’s finished as many have been saying and wouldn’t have affected it anyway or he’s a quality player without whom, at least this season, we weren’t able to cope.
I’m not comfortable feeling compelled to defend Ronaldinho as his attitude hasn’t been great this year but from the start of the season it was obvious management had decided he wasn’t going to figure much and i don’t feel this vitriol is deserved.
Feel free to disagree
Btw, i hope Frank will get a great send off (although I won’t see it as Sky Sports seem to have dropped Barcelona coverage for the season). Football fans sometimes have very short memories . . .
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Jim: don’t forget, Ronaldinho isn’t the only reason the team has ’suck without trace’. Messi has been injured half the season. So has Eto’o. Deco has been out for ages. Henry hasn’t been fit. The fact that Ronnie had a crap attitude Ilet’s be honest, he wasn’t training properly) at a time when the team needed him badly is the straw that broke the camel’s back for me.
One factor we haven’t really discussed here is the culpability of the Catalan press. They were the ones hyping this team up beyond all reason at the beginning of the season, even as the club tried to manage expectations. Now they’re the ones jumping up and down, screaming ’sell the whole team’. They’re one of the reasons we have such an impatient fanbase.
(Ferguson or Wenger would have been fired ages ago if they were managing Barca or Madrid, which just goes to show the absurdity of it all.)
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i want ronnie to be my favorite player, like he was, but anyone who watched his performances earlier this year could see he was lazy. he lost possession too often and didnt try to win the ball back. and, how many of his goals came from PKs?
anyone could see he wasnt his old self. he was making himself look bad, frankly. he wasnt worthy of…himself.
i want him back, fit and fired up…but who knows if that will happen. we’ve repeated this discussion on this blog quite a bit.
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Without question, the Catalan press went crazy this pre-season, but they watched the same Gamper match that I watched, so they had good reason to. I’ve said it before, but it’s worth saying again: We destroyed Inter Milan. It wasn’t even as close as the 5-0 scoreline.
Also without question, Ronaldinho mattered to the side. That’s why his lack of dedication was so devastating. Even when he was ineffective, he still drew players.
But Mat and Jim are both correct. He did ditch us, for reasons that I still wish were clearer. And he definitely made a difference, infuriating though he was, in the side. The bicycle was against Atletico. And instead of us getting energized off a goal that was ESPN’s Play of the Week that Monday, we got Kun’ed in a match that was the beginning of the end, really.
That question is going to have to be decisively answered though. AC Milan seems very serious in saying that they are out of the deal. Inter has pulled out because they presumed AC had won. Negotiating tactics? The fact that R10 is partying the nights away, with no interest in even a perfunctory farewell appearance at the Camp Nou, grinning and speaking Italian to teammates, tells a different story.
I’m sure the other shoe will drop in a week or two.
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What Kxevin just said is exactly what I was saying Jim…because Ronnie was so good the team depended on him too much that his lack of motivation really hurt us and we did not have any substitute for that area..(we cannot have a very good straight sub for one of the world’s best players..he just would not get any playing time..we needed players who were comfortable playing left midfield..and we never had any..but that’s a completely different discussion)..when he was in the team even half-fit, half-motivated he was a handful that every team needed to double team and that opened so much up for us….also he was pretty much the only good free kick taker in the team..he was never mentally with the team this season and it affected th team a lot..
I was just saying that when he physically “ditched” us in the middle of the year we had no clue what to do because of the fact that we depended on him..now teams could pretty much double team Messi only …foul us anywhere on the pitch without the risk of a goal by FKs etc.etc….you get where I am going with this..(did you see how much more loaded to the right we were in the ManUtd game??)..Linda is right ..along with the facts that I just mentioned there were just so many injuries in both the halves of the season that u cannot compare themNow if he just comes out and says what his problem is then we could see his perspective…we have just being shown the view that the board and the Catalan press wants us to see…but right now I am pretty much of the opinion that he is going the same road as some other Brazilians have gone…partying away to oblivion..maybe he thinks the Milan lab will help him
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I agree with much of what has been said above. He didn’t look the same player earlier this year. My problem is yours - I don’t know how much was down to his attitude or the “tendonitis” he was meant to have from the start of the season. I’ve had tendonitis and you can play on with it but at the same time you can’t have any sharpness of movement. The club doctors recently said there was nothing wrong with his leg then he trains and the latest (serious?) injury happens. We can’t pass judgement without answers. If the board are sure he’s coming it why not say? He’s an obvious scapegoat and player falling out with club doesn’t hurt chances of a transfer as much as uncertainty over reasons. . Strange.
Linda, your comments about others in the side are reasonable but they’ve been back and the results (performances) aren’t getting any better. Remember, they were also missing for much of last year when Ronaldinho started almost every game and scored a whack of goals which (along with Larsson’s immense contribution) kept us in the title race right to the end. There were times last year when he was obviously struggling with injury but seemed to play week after week. He suffered there only by comparison with his unbelievable displays of the previous seasons.
I agree Kxevin with your comment about when he was ineffective he still drew players. That’s why I can’t understand Rikjaard’s desire to haul him off or leave him on the bench so often. He got the blame for “slowing down the play” when 9 out of 10 times he got the ball tight on the touchline with two players right beside him and he still kept possession (albeit not going anywhere). Is our play any quicker now? I’ve often thought that left wing can’t be R10’s best position anyway. Yes, I watched him play that position unbelievably well but i’d like to see him playing just behind a front two which makes it much harder to mark, puts him closer to Messi and leaves space to fill on the wings rather than filling it in advance which is more predictable.
i just think this comes back to the silly signing of Henry. Given his age he was never going to give us more than 1 season of top performance at best but his signing (although possibly to cover for the fact that both Messi and Eto’o have been unreliable injury wise) I think sent the wrong signs to R10 which, along with him having to watch Henry playing very poorly (not Rikjaard’s fault entirely as he had to play the big new signing) , started doubt in R10’s mind mind and eventually led to this situation. Looking at geniuses ( and he is one) all over football the one thing they have in common is the need to be wanted. They are not noted for mental toughness. The club say that they’ve done all they can for him. I’m not sure how leaving him out when the team is playing so poorly did that but I don’t know enough to comment there.
Last thought. Does Ronnie not deserve some respect for his lack of complaint while this was happening? I never saw him throwing shirts, haven’t heard him criticising his club like many others have done in similar circumstances.
I suppose we’ll have to wait for Rikjaard’s book !
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Somehow I feel that he will return to coach Barca again. If we stop playing beautiful football, then I hope he returns sooner then later.
Spanish fans don’t seem to have enough patience as their english counterparts.Posted from
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Well said, everyone. A comment on the Rijkaard situation by (Italian trainer) Arrigoo Saatchi sums up the crisis of this season:
“The problem with Barcelona is that they now have a team without the cohesion of spirit. The jealousy and envy had made its mark within the squad among certain individuals.
“That changed the atmosphere and therefore the style of football.”
Hence, individual runs instead of slick passing and movement, crazy shots instead of working the give-and-go, etc. It wasn’t just one player: not Ronaldinho, or Eto’o, or Henry, or anyone else. It was just that critical mass of egos and talent, of too many guys used to being “the man.”
That situation can work if there is one guy with transcendent talent. Michael Jordan kept those great Chicago Bulls teams in check more than Phil Jackson did. Ronaldinho, in his prime, was that guy. The R10 of this season wasn’t, and that’s when the battle for that “power spot,” if you will, began.
Then came the talk of black sheep, and locker room crap spilling out into the streets and suddenly, Rijkaard’s balancing act wasn’t working any longer.
You’re right about patience, JC. But in the unfortunate world of big-time sports, the players never get fired. It’s always the coach. The pressure on a club such as Barca or the Evil Empire is immense. Capello got fired and he won the freakin’ Liga! It’s crazy, but guys know that when they sign on for the deal.
“That changed the atmosphere and therefore the style of football.”Posted from
United States
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