Pep Guardiola: Another Way of Winning: The Biography (16 page)

Txiki, allied with José Ramón Alexanko, Barcelona’s academy director, informed the other directors that his first choice was Guardiola. ‘I explained to the board why I
wanted Guardiola, rather than why I didn’t want another coach,’ Beguiristain recalls. He told the board that he was aware of the risks when it came to Pep’s managerial experience,
but that, as a successful former Barcelona player and captain, Guardiola understood the club and the players better than anyone else; that he had a grasp of how to work with key sections of the
media; he understood the Catalan mentality and could deal with the internal and public disputes. And if that wasn’t enough, he was displaying all the signs of developing into an outstanding
coach.

Txiki, confident the board would eventually back him, even told Rijkaard that Mourinho was not going to be the chosen one, as the media had predicted; that he would be very surprised when he
found out who it was going to be.

By March 2008, the football department and key board members had made their minds up: Rijkaard had to go – and the ideal replacement was right under their noses. Guardiola was their
man.

Now they just had to convince Laporta, the president.

From January of that season, Joan Laporta accompanied Txiki and Johan Cruyff to a few Barcelona B games. Pep sensed that all eyes were on him but he was not even sure himself if he was
necessarily the best solution for the first team. In fact, after witnessing Barcelona beat Celtic in a deserved 2-3 Champions League victory in Glasgow in February – where the Catalans
displayed their class to end Celtic’s formidable European home record – Pep wondered if that might
prove the turning point for Rijkaard’s team. He even told
people close to the Barcelona board that he thought as much, that the team was getting back to their best and that they ought to stick with the Dutch coach.

But, soon after, Deco and Messi got injured and the team started to decline once again. Then the unthinkable happened, the nightmare scenario for every Barcelona fan and player: fate decreed
that the first game after Real Madrid mathematically became La Liga champions would be against their bitter rivals. It meant that the Barça players would have to suffer the ultimate
humiliation and form a
pasillo
– a guard of honour – to welcome the Madrid players on to the pitch in front of an ecstatic Bernabéu. In an act that was seen as an
abandonment of their team-mates, Deco and Eto’o made themselves ineligible for the Clásico by deliberately picking up two seemingly ridiculous yellow cards in the previous game against
Valencia, their fifth of the season that led to a one-game suspension for each footballer.

The key players in the side, the Catalans and home-grown talents, had had enough: they wanted a change, they wanted Guardiola, who was an icon for their generation. On several occasions, senior
footballers visited Joan Laporta to describe to the president the unsustainable situation in the dressing room.

Their intervention in day-to-day life at the club helped prevent the dressing room from completely tearing itself apart and, alongside Puyol and Xavi, players like Iniesta, Valdés and
even Messi stepped up to the plate and worked hard to restore some pride and order. It was a significant moment in the career and development of Lionel Messi who started out in the first team being
seen as Ronaldinho’s protégé, but, as the Brazilian became increasingly wayward, Messi avoided the threat of being dragged down the same path by seeking out more responsible
mentors in the forms of Xavi and Puyol. It was the right choice.

Guardiola could not help but witness the real depth of the disarray within the first team. He was aware of the situation; he was being informed by senior players and some of the evidence started
leaking into the press. He finally also came to the conclusion that Barcelona
needed a change the day his youngsters played behind closed doors against the A team. Guardiola
discovered Rijkaard smoking a cigarette, something of a habit for the Dutch boss. Ronaldinho was taken off after ten minutes, Deco was clearly tired and the reserve boys, still in the third
division, were running the first team ragged. A member of Rijkaard’s staff approached Guardiola and asked him to tell his players to ease off a little. Pep had doubted if he was ready to
manage the first team, but this told him one thing: he could do a better job of it than was currently being done.

With Pep now finally on board the Guardiola bandwagon, there was still the president to convince.

Joan Laporta wasn’t just wrestling with his loyalty to Rijkaard and the star players who had brought him so much joy, the culmination of a dream, at the Champions League final in Paris a
few years earlier, the second European Cup for the institution. He wanted to be remembered as a president who had kept faith with a single coach throughout his tenure. There was also the perfectly
understandable fear of handing over control of one of the biggest clubs in the world to a man whose managerial experience amounted to about eight months with a team four divisions down from the top
flight. And while all of the board were now convinced, there were just as many friends and journalists telling him, ‘Don’t do it, Joan, it’s suicidal, it’s reckless.’
And then, of course, in a city as political as Barcelona, there was also the fact that Pep had backed his rival in the 2003 elections. Nevertheless, Laporta finally relented and at least agreed to
take Pep out to dinner and discuss the future.

In February 2008, they met in the Drolma restaurant of the aptly named Majestic Hotel in the centre of Barcelona, a Michelin-starred venue that was to provide the setting for one of the defining
moments in the history of the club.

After the pair had worked their way through a bottle and a half of fine wine, Laporta finally felt ready to tackle the elephant in the room. According to the Barcelona journalist and expert on
the club, Jordi Pons, the conversation went as follows:

‘In principle, if everything goes well, Frank Rijkaard will continue managing the team, but if not; well, we’ve thought about you. You
could be Frank’s
replacement,’ suggested the president, testing the water.

‘If Frank doesn’t continue ...’ Pep mused out loud.

‘As it stands right now, Rijkaard will carry on if the team qualifies for the Champions League final. But if he goes, you will be the coach of Barcelona,’ Laporta clarified.

‘You wouldn’t have the balls to do that!’ blurted Guardiola at his purest, most honest.

Pep recalls that the wine might have played a small part in his reaction.

‘But would you take it or not?’

Pep gave Laporta one of his trademark cheeky grins – the kind we’ve frequently seen in press conferences and that many a time got a skinny lad out of trouble in a village square in
Santpedor.

‘Yes,’ Pep said. ‘Yes, I would do it because you know I would win the league.’

The day after that meeting, Pep’s alcohol-inspired boldness was turning into self-doubt. He confided in his faithful assistant, Tito Vilanova, repeating to him the previous night’s
conversation he’d had with the president: ‘If they dismiss Frank, they want me to take over the first team. Do you think we’re ready?’ His friend didn’t hesitate to
answer: ‘You? You’re more than ready.’

Laporta – as he had told Pep over dinner – presented Rijkaard with an ultimatum: he needed to bring home the Champions League trophy to save his career at Barcelona. At that moment,
the Dutchman, aware that Guardiola was the chosen one to replace him, responded with a selfless gesture that illustrates perfectly why he has retained the love and respect of so many, including his
president. Rijkaard suggested that, for the good of the club, it would be a great idea to include Pep immediately as a member of first-team staff to smooth the transition and prepare for the
following season. Pep preferred to stay put and finish the job with his B team.

Nevertheless, Ingla and Txiki set out a plan for the rest of the season which saw them working and consulting simultaneously with both Rijkaard and Pep, talking about players, injuries and
recoveries and principally how to shake up the working model of
the club. The primary goal was to professionalise the first team. With the approval of both coaches, negotiations
intensified for the purchases of Seydou Keita, Dani Alvés, Alexander Hleb, Gerard Piqué and Martín Cáceres.

Not much was improving behind closed doors at the first team, though.

Ronaldinho had disappeared from the line-up and didn’t even make the bench these days. He played his last game in a Barcelona shirt, the 1-2 defeat to Villarreal, two months before the end
of a second trophyless season. A series of suspicious injuries were to blame for Ronnie’s absences and, during that period, he was more of a regular at the Bikini Club than at the Camp
Nou.

He also missed the semi-finals of the Champions League against Manchester United at the end of April. Barça were held to a 0-0 draw at home against United and then lost 1-0 to a Paul
Scholes goal at Old Trafford. Immediately afterwards, in Manchester airport’s departure lounge, on the way home from the match, the imminent departure of Frank Rijkaard became clear. On one
side of the lounge was Laporta, visibly worried and deep in discussion with Ingla and Beguiristain; and on the other side, isolated and alone, was the Dutch coach.

Five days later the board made the formal decision that Pep Guardiola would be the new coach of FC Barcelona. Remarkably, it was to be the first time that a kid from La Masía had
progressed through all the junior categories to finally end up as the boss of the first team. On Tuesday 6 May 2008, Laporta asked Pep’s friend and club director Evarist Murtra to accompany
him to the Dexeus clinic in Barcelona to congratulate Guardiola on the birth of his third child, Valentina. There he told Pep that he would be the next Barcelona coach.

Cristina, Pep’s long-time partner, was concerned. ‘Don’t worry,’ said Pep. ‘It’ll all turn out fine, you’ll see.’

Guardiola, in typical fashion, kept the big news of his promotion to himself, not even warning his parents that he was about to fulfil his dream until a few hours before Laporta made the
official announcement two days later. ‘The day that the deal is done you will
be the first to find out,’ Pep kept telling his dad, Valentí, who, like all
Barcelona fans, had heard the rumours. ‘In the meantime, just worry about Barça B.’

So, on 8 May 2008, with the season still not finished for Rijkaard but with the Dutchman’s blessing, Laporta released an official club statement: Josep Guardiola i Sala would be the new
first-team coach. It was the morning after the guard of honour for Real Madrid at the Bernabéu.

‘We went for him because of his football knowledge,’ Laporta told the press. ‘He knows a lot about this club and he loves attacking football. In fact he is the Dream Team in
one package. He has a football brain – but at the same time he’s educated, always alert, always curious, always thinking football. The imprint we have always liked at
Barcelona.’

Curiously, Pep was not even present during Laporta’s press conference and the club had publicly announced their deal with him without ever having finalised the details of his contract. Not
that the issue of money was ever going to stand between Guardiola and the Nou Camp. He was offered a two-year deal and he accepted. His agent, Josep María Orobitg, tried to negotiate a third
year and a single bonus for winning the three main titles but they didn’t reach an agreement. ‘Whatever you do is good for me,’ Pep said to his representative. He just wanted a
fair deal and agreed a modest fixed sum plus variables. In fact, if he failed to secure the bonus, he’d end up being the fourth worst paid manager in La Liga. Not a problem. ‘If I do well, they should pay me; if I don’t then I’m no good to them, I’ll go home and play golf,’ Pep told Orobitg.

There was going to be an official media presentation once the season had finished in June, this time with Pep Guardiola present as he’d insisted upon waiting until he had finished what he
had started with Barça B. They had beaten Europa 1-0 at home in their final game and were proclaimed champions of regional group V of the third division; but they would still need to secure
a place in the national Second B division via the play-offs. After impressively overcoming the two ties at El Castillo in Gran Canaria and at Barbastre, promotion was assured.

On 17 June in the Paris Hall of the Camp Nou, Pep Guardiola, at thirty-seven, was officially unveiled as the new manager of FC Barcelona. On the way to the room a confident
Pep told an anxious Laporta again: ‘Relax. You’ve done the right thing. We are going to win the league.’

The president had every reason to be worried. Despite Guardiola’s self-belief, in spite of the faith placed in the new coach by the football brains at the club, it was still a huge gamble
and these were troubling times for the president of an institution in the doldrums. A team that had dazzled Europe a few seasons earlier had collapsed spectacularly, the squad needed a major
overhaul, brave decisions had to be taken over some of the biggest stars in the game and Laporta’s popularity was at an all-time low. Disastrous performances and results in the club’s
other sports sections – such as basketball and handball – combined with the humiliation of finishing eighteen points behind Madrid in La Liga, together with concerns about
Laporta’s leadership style resulted in a motion of censure that triggered a vote in the summer. Exit polls showed that 60 per cent of the 39,389 votes cast were against the president.
However, even though he lost the overall vote, the necessary two-thirds majority required to force him to stand down was not achieved. Laporta survived. Just.

‘That summer nobody outside the club had any faith in Pep, nor the team,’ Gerard Piqué, one of Pep’s first signings, recalls now. The papers were full of negative
opinions about Pep’s controversial appointment: ‘it was too soon for him’, ‘surely he was too inexperienced’ went the consensus. But then again, FC Barcelona and Pep
Guardiola didn’t do things like everyone else.