http://www.thesportreview.com/tsr/2012/04/pep-guardiola-premier-league-mark-hughes/ Mark Hughes believes Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola is destined to coach in the Premier League at some stage during the Spaniardâs career. The 41-year-old has been touted as a possible long-term replacement for André Villas-Boas at Chelsea after he announced last week that he will step down as Barça boss on 30 June. And Queens Park Rangers manager Hughes is confident Guardiola would effortlessly settle into life in the English top flight. âIâd be very surprised if we donât [see Guardiola in the Premier League],â said Hughes. âHeâs got knowledge of the top teams in the Premier League. Heâs gone up against most of them. âHe understands the language so it wouldnât be a problem to integrate and usually we get the top European managers over here. âHeâs done a fantastic job. He was an outstanding player and heâs carried that on as a coach. âHeâs created a team and had a philosophy of playing that will make its mark in football history. âPeople forget itâs only been a four-year period and what heâs done in that time in terms of trophies accumulated is outstanding. âIâm sure in a yearâs time, when he puts his hand up for a job a lot of people will be looking over their shoulders.â Guardiola cited tiredness as the main reason behind his decision to leave Barcelona and take a break from his managerial career. But Hughes, who spent a season at Camp Nou as a player, joked that if Guardiola found overseeing Barcelonaâs three La Liga titles and two Champions League successes stressful, then he should try a managerial stint at a relegation-threatened club. âI donât know about that [if four years is an "eternity" in football management],â said Hughes. âGuardiola was winning every week, he should go to a club where he gets beaten every other week â it seems a lot longer I can assure you! âI can understand the focus on a club such as Barcelona, obviously I experienced it myself. âThereâs huge demands on you as a manager or a player which I felt while I was there and itâs not easy to be under that spotlight.â
Good point, he's not really had to look after the kind of talent we have. And LR is kind of intimidating compared to Nou Camp. Though there would be a nice symmetry to it - they stole Venables from us when we were on the verge of creating a dynasty, we get him to finally complete the job. Though it is kind of cool that we have a manager who was good enough to play for Utd, Barca and Bayern. And can do this in training.....[video=youtube;k6LvYRab2U8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6LvYRab2U8&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/video]
Does Pep ever have a Plan B? Like MH he doesn't seem to, but then he has rarely needed one! Not sure he'd cut it at our level - er Neil, you free?!
Nice clip - his volleys were always a bit special (I remember a last gasp one for Utd against Oldham when he was falling backwards but still slammed it in).
