Ingla and Beguiristain began with a long list of potential candidates. Manuel Pellegrini, Arsène Wenger and Michael Laudrup did not survive the cut when the names they had written down were reduced to their final preferences. They were left with a three-man short list containing the names of the Espanyol coach and former Barcelona player Ernesto Valverde, Pep Guardiola and José Mourinho. Valverde’s name was soon erased from the list once it became clear that too few board members were prepared to back him. It came down to Guardiola or Mourinho.
One lacked experience, but was performing miracles with the B team and was very much a ‘Barcelona’ man; the other might not have had the club’s DNA coursing through his veins, but he ticked just about every other box and had the support of several key board members – including another marketing man and economic vice-president, Ferran Soriano, who said privately at the time: ‘The Mourinho brand, added to the Barça brand, has the potential to make our product enormous.’
In January 2008, Marc Ingla and Txiki Beguiristain insisted upon arranging a meeting with Mourinho, and travelled to Portugal to interview him and his agent, Jorge Mendes, who had a good working relationship with the club because he also represented the Barcelona pair of Deco and Rafa Márquez.
The meeting took place in a branch of a famous Lisbon bank, a venue suggested by Mendes to avoid any unwanted attention. Txiki’s flight was delayed and when he arrived he found Ingla had already begun interviewing the Portuguese manager. Mourinho presented the Barcelona directors with a memory stick, containing a summary of his football philosophy and a strategy for Barça.
It revealed how he planned to evolve their classic 4-3-3 using a different midfield – similar to the one he left at Chelsea with players like Essien, Makelele and Lampard. It also included a list of potential recruits and the names of those who would be first out of the door at the Camp Nou. He had even drawn up a short list of names he proposed as ideal candidates for the role of his number two at the Camp Nou: Luis Enrique, Sergi Barjuan, Albert Ferrer or even Pep Guardiola. It became very clear that Mourinho had been very well briefed about every aspect of Barcelona’s current malaise, unsurprising once it transpired that his assistant, André Villas-Boas, had become a regular visitor to the Camp Nou and had been compiling detailed reports for him.
Mourinho told the Barcelona envoys that, while he wasn’t always comfortable with the ill feeling generated between the Catalan club and Chelsea throughout their recent clashes in the Champions League, he explained that elements of his behaviour in front of the media were a necessary evil: a vital cog in the psychological machinery that he used to win football matches. Mourinho explained how, for him, a game starts and frequently finishes at a press conference.
It was the first time that Ingla and Beguiristain had ever sat face to face with José Mourinho and the pair were impressed by his charisma and his clear football methodology. They returned to Barcelona feeling positive in spite of Mourinho’s financial stipulations: he wanted a two-year contract at €9 million per season and €1 million for each of his assistants.
There was one ‘but’ – the issue of José’s behaviour in front of the media. The two Barcelona representatives were left with a sense of unease about Mourinho’s admission that he would continue to fight his battles in a psychological war on and off the pitch. They were torn: they liked Mourinho face to face, but found his double identity unsettling – struggling to come to terms with how he could be utterly charming in private, but happy to cultivate such a ‘disrespectful’ public image if he felt that was called for when fighting battles for ‘his’ team. His previous wrongful accusations against Frank Rijkaard – that the Barcelona coach had visited referee Anders Frisk’s dressing room during half-time at the Nou Camp, in the first leg of the Champions League knockout stages that Chelsea went on to lose 2-1 – were still fresh in the memory.
Yet, despite the good vibes at the meeting with Mourinho, Beguiristain had come to the conclusion that Guardiola was the right man for the job and he gradually managed to persuade his colleagues, including Marc Ingla, that Pep’s inexperience should not be an obstacle. Some people didn’t need convincing: Johan Cruyff had never wanted Mourinho at the club and Pep’s old friend and board member, Evarist Murtra, was already on board.
The nail in the coffin for Mourinho was when word of the meeting was leaked by his inner circle, providing Barcelona with the perfect excuse to rule him out. Nevertheless, it had never been a straightforward decision, as Ingla admits now: ‘We weren’t entirely conclusive with Mou when it came to ruling him out as Barça coach.’ The Portuguese manager, after waiting for a proposal from Barcelona that never came, signed a deal with Inter Milan that summer.
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 s
ame 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.
Pep Guardiola: Another Way of Winning: The Biography Page 12