You have to hand it to Pep Guardiola for that delicious dose of sarcasm on the eve of
“I’ve always found English football fascinating,” he said in a video message to the FA’s 150th birthday bash. “I’m always surprised that people always support everything, and that’s nice.”
What an ironic slap in the chops that was to Roman Abramovich, who as every coach he’s employed has discovered, is about a supportive as a trainer bra is to Dolly Parton’s ying-yangs.
No-one but Guardiola knows when he made his mind up to reject Chelsea in favour of Bayern, but I’m guessing the seeds were sown after last year’s Champions League final in Munich.
I reckon he asked himself how long Bayern boss Jupp Heynckes would have lasted if he’d been a Chelsea manager who’d lost that final on his home ground. And concluded that, like Carlo Ancelotti, he’d have been sacked in the tunnel.
I’m also guessing he saw how Roberto Di Matteo, who won that Champions League in Munich, was sacked months later, and thought: “Why would I lay my reputation on the line there? Why, after all I’ve done, leave myself open to be professionally humiliated by a rich man who understands little about the benefits of loyalty and even less about football? Sod your yachts, sod your riches, sod your flattery, its your integrity I want to see. And I can’t. Adios.”
I’ve never bought into the hype about Guardiola being a messiah. I’d take Jose Mourinho tomorrow. For the simple reason he’s been a winner everywhere he’s gone, unlike Guardiola who’s only ever managed one team, the best in the world, and won nothing of note with them in his final season.
Guardiola is still untested, whereas, if the conditions are right, Mourinho is as close to guaranteed success as you can hope to find.
The ex-Barca man is receiving bucket-loads of praise in Germany and Spain for rejecting the riches on offer in England, and taking the romantic option. But let’s not get carried away here. He hasn’t chosen Accrington Stanley.
Bayern are one of the world’s truly great clubs. They’ve reached two of the last three Champions League finals, play in front of 70,000 people every home game, are romping the Bundesliga, have a superb team brimming with young talent, and offer Guardiola the prospect of winning them their fifth European Cup, thus going down in legend. Plus £6.5 million-a-year.
Which is a lot less than he could have screwed out of Abramovich, but then he would not have been given the three things he clearly cherishes: Respect, time and autonomy. He’ll get that at Bayern. Because they are a classy club who put football men around their manager, not henchmen.
His decision to go there and snub Chelsea is a massive boost for those in football who believe that wealth is temporary but class is permanent.
Something important happened this week. For the first time Abramovich made someone an offer he could refuse. Will other top managers also realise their integrity is more important than being dictated to, and judged, by an impatient autocrat, and refuse to be Roman’s bitch?
Guardiola may just have exposed the emptiness at the heart of working for the Abramoviches of this world.
If so he could go down not only as the manager who orchestrated the greatest team the world’s seen, but created a new world order.
An order that can’t come soon enough.