Apparently you're to make another attempt to convince him to join. No offence intended, but is this really likely? Leaving Barcelona who had a shot at winning everything, to join L'pool who frankly don't. I'm not suggesting I know where he'd go, but I just can't see it being a club that needs such a radical overhaul before it can compete. Thoughts?
Very unlikely IMO. Plus, I'm not convinced it is the right move either. Proven when given an extremely strong platform to begin with but could he build from scratch...?
If he was to come (which is very unlikely) he'll be drawn to the challenge if anything. Chelsea would be the more likely destination though.
I can't see it at all and frankly don't believe it. Saying that, is Pep even any good? My dog could have won titles with that Barca side.
“The academy of the Liverpool is the only one that can compare to La Masia of Barcelona FC.” he said. The double winning coach then went on to state: “If Liverpool can manage those lads in the academy, then maybe 20 star players can arrive from that academy”. It could appeal to him. Plus the fact both cities have always had left wing political leanings which could appeal to Guardiola too. Guardiola is his own man and I don't think he cares about how good the club he is joining is, he cares more about how much he can grow the club in my opinion and Liverpool have massive potential as a football club.
Depends what he's looking for in a job, there's three categories here really: If he takes over Chelsea or City, he's not going to get much reputation nomatter what he achieves since they have a strong side already, both coming on the back of major trophies and both with near unlimited funds. Anyone could do a job at those clubs. They're the type of club Mourinho would happily take over for a few years, I don't see guardiola as the same type. Next options would be United or Arsenal. Both big clubs in their own right, both slipping backwards from what they once were (no offence). In that sense, there's work to be done at each to build them back to the top on muliple trophy challenging fronts. At united he'd be asked to continue SAF's job which, well, won't be easy given what he achieved. Less pressure with Arsenal and they like to play good football too so he might prefer this option - When's Wenger leaving though? Next group is Liverpool and Tottenham. Both clubs trying to break into a regular top 4 spot, both with decent squads plus a few top quality players, neither have unlimited funds, both look to be trying to build up sustainably to compete. Both would represent a challenge to a new manager. At Tottenham, he'd be tasked with bringing about a period of success where they're major force, at Liverpool he'll be tasked with bringing us back to where we were 25 years ago. Both big projects. I think he'd prefer this type of job compared to any of the others (except perhaps Arsenal). At City/Chelsea, he achieves nothing. At United/Arsenal, there's a greater chance of failure and bad press which comes with it. At Liverpool/Spurs, it's a challenge where he can't really lose, but could profit massively. A propper challenge. If he comes the PL, Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs seem more likely destinations than United, City or Chelsea....but that's just my opinion of a young, ambitious, attacking style manager.
It's not like he made no changes to the team and won everything...people have a massive misconception about what he's achieved at Barca, the man's a great manager.. He got rid of Ronaldinho and Deco (people said he was crazy) in his first year and signed Dani Alves and Pique - relying on Iniesta and Xavi instead to build the team around. He got rid of Eto'o in his second year. Later he got rid of Ibrahimovic, Henry and and Toure and signed Villa and Mascherano. All these changes whilst promoting youth from within. The man completely changed the core of his team to revolve around the Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets triangle, got lucky with Messi coming through the ranks but made the most of him and changed the system into what we now see them play. He proceeded to three legue titles in a row, three spanish supercups, two copa del reys and two european cups. Not like he sat scratching his balls with the same team year in, year out...
Barcelona were pretty poor when he took over. They finished 18 points behind Real Madrid and 10 behind Villareal. Yes, they got to a CL semi final but that was through the luck of the draw more than anything. Celtic then Schalke were hardly the best opponents to face. They then got knocked out by Man Utd in the semis. They lost to Valencia in the copa del rey semis too. They were a very poor team in disarray when Guardiola took over, don't let the fact Pep turned them around quickly make them seem a decent side before he took over.
Its not a mis-conception. I know he changed things but he still had an extremely strong bass to which to work from. Most of the players he used have come through the youth ranks at the club, he didn't do that in just four years! Ok, so he gave some of them their chance, fair play to him for that but having that option is a luxury in itself. Then you can look at the players he bought in and the amounts that were paid. He was basically given any player he wanted. To me, it is not the hardest job in the world to get a team winning in those circumstances. What about the manager of the Spanish national team, he uses the majority of the self-grown Barca players with a few Real Madrid ones thrown in to plug the gaps, is he one of the greatest managers around too? I am prepared to give Guardiola credit for what he has achieved, fourteen trophies in four years and becoming the most successful manager of a mighty club like Barcelona is not an easy task. I just try to put some perspective on it. If he takes over a lower ranked side and takes them to trophies then I will believe the hype. If he takes over another top rank side and does it then he will need to do it another two or three times IMO. Mourinho impressed me most when in charge of Porto. Every job since has been hand picked with money to spend. Again, credit where credit is due, he got his self into a position where he could do that
They won a league and Champions League double in 2006 (two years before he took over) and they had Ronaldinho, Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, Puyol and co already at the club! Real Madrid had a one off good season that year. It was the one and only season Capello was in charge. As I said, Guardiola made them better but he had a very strong platform to work from.
There were 6 players in the 2007/2008 team which failed compared to what we now see in the Barca team - Xavi (mostly played right mid), Iniesta, Puyol, Messi, Pedro (only played 3 times) and Valdes, but the team was build around Ronaldino, Eto'o and Henry. The strong platform was there in Xavi, Iniesta, Messi and Puyol, yeah, but you need some serious balls to sell Ronaldinho, Deco and Eto'o in your first year along with Henry soon after and rebuild your team! He could have had anyone he wanted, and he had the best player in the world in Ronaldinho already, but he chose to build a team around his philosophy, not just a group of top players (unlike Real Madrid). Most of the Barca players credit Pep with improving their game considerably also and he'd worked with the reserve team previously. Transfer wise: Net spends of 5mill last year, 35mill the year before, 70mill and 40mill in his first year (all in Euros). Grand total of 150million Euros or £120 million over 4 years which isn't much really for what he achieved. Just like us, we have a strong core and a smallish rebuilding budget each year of 20-30mill to play around with. Top manager.
Barca didn't win the league for the last 2 years under Rijkaard. Barca under Rijkaard in his last 3 years: 05/06 - P38 - W25 - D7 - L6 - GS80 - GA35 - PTS 80 - 1st 06/07 - P38 - W22 - D10 - L6 - GS78 - GA33 - PTS 76 - 2nd 07/08 - P38 - W19 - D10 - L9 - GS76 - GA43 - PTS 67 - 3rd Barca under Guardiola: 08/09 - P38 - W27 - D6 - L5 - GS105 - GA35 - PTS 87 - 1st 09/10 - P38 - W31 - D6 - L1 - GS98 - GA24 - PTS 99 - 1st 10/11 - P38 - W30 - D6 - L2 - GS95 - GA21 - PTS 96 - 1st 11/12 - P38 - W38 - D7 - L3 - GS114 - GA29 - PTS 91 - 2nd Rijkaard's win percentage at Barca 58.61% Guardiola's win percentage at Barca 72.65% His record is miles more impressive than Rijkaards before him and if you look at the team before he joined they were in decline in terms of scoring goals, points and league position. He came in and stopped the rot straight away and built one of the best teams in football history.
this is entirely press talk. not one lfc representative nor "source" that might have credibility about lfc have said one iota about him.
No offence intended but.... A) Guardiola has forgotten more about football than you'll ever know so he will see that a "radical overhaul" is a kneejerk reaction, an oversimplification and a regurgitation of melodramatic media headlines, a.k.a. bull****. B) Guardiola compared Liverpool's academy to Barca's. He admires it immensely. He should do: we have ex-Barca youth coaches working there. Why on earth should that attract an ex-Barca manager? C) Managers like projects, unless they're Joe Mourinho, who likes houses. Guardiola wants a year out, possibly because no matter where he goes it'll be compared and fall short, for which Guardiola will take the blame. A year out allows him to search out a proiject which challenges him but for which there isn't an overwhelming media-inspired expectation for him to deliver another Barca. But if he does have Barca running through his blood then Liverpool's pass and move football will seem more familiar to him than the bus Chelsea park nowadays. Pep may even remember Liverpool beating Barca at Barca without a parked bus in sight. So I don't expect him to come but it's got nothing to do with it being Liverpool.
I think people are mis-understanding me here. I am not saying Guardiola isn't a good manager, I am not saying he wouldn't be the right man for the job. What I am saying is his reputation is higher than it should be and IMO he is not a 'if he is available then get him above all others' guy. However, I'd be over the moon if we did somehow convince him to come to Liverpool
Lol your academy is nothing compared to ours maybe he will come to manage Southampton if it was all about that. But its not its about money.
That'll be you basing it on players developed over recent years rather than the way each academy actually works today yeah? PS - do a little research. Hint: see who setup the youth academy at Barcelona and who currently runs ours now
We will always continue to produce better players for the future its a fact youngsters choose us as they know we have the best academy. We have just brought 4 such players into our first team for next season and you will get to see first hand what quality we produce. I am not saying your academy isn't run excellently just were light years ahead in that department. The point is managers go where they feel comfortable and knowing how much they will be earning and spending on transfers not for youth academys.
