Thursday, January 17, 2013

And so the merry go round begins turning





I think it's probably difficult for anybody in England to appreciate how big a sporting club Bayern Munich are. We often here the phrase 'big club' used to describe English clubs that have seen better days, probably before the 1990's or in Newcastle's case the 1950's, and whilst it its true that the Bavarians haven't won the Champions League since 2001 they are one of the giants of European football. Bundesliga winners on 22 occasions (a record) German Cup winners 15 times (also a record) as well as having the fifth biggest home average attendance in Europe, some 200,000 members and close to 3,000 supporters clubs worldwide.

The decision of Pep Guardiola to end his sabbatical in his £200,000 a month New York apartment and turn down £18 million a year from Chelsea for the Germans has been seen in many publications (both on and offline) as 'a snub for the Premier League'. There have been many comments in print and on the radio that Guardiola isn't 'all that' as a coach, that the success that Tito Vilanova is currently enjoying (although he hasn't won anything yet) proves that anybody can manage a team as good as Barcelona. It's one thing of course to have the players but another thing to take those players and coach them and send them out onto a football pitch with enough tactical nous to win things, after all the game is littered with managers who have spent big and failed.

Guardiola's choice has caught most if not all of the British media off guard although to be fair it was reported on Eurosport before Christmas that when Jupp Heynckes announced to the Bayern board he would be leaving in the summer that Guardiola was one of the names mentioned in passing. Guardiola apparently sought out the advice of his best friend Raul (the former footballing King of Spain), who told him that his family would enjoy life in Germany and that he would find that the football would suit his managerial and coaching styles.

Of course the choice of a three year contract has led to even more speculation about what happens in 2016 when both Guardiola and Sir Alex Ferguson reach the end of their contracts, most of the sensible money seems to be going on one to succeed the other, and no I don't mean SAF will be heading off to the Oktoberfest. The rumours of which English club Guardiola would be joining began in earnest earlier this week when he was part of the FA's 150th Celebrations and happened to mention in passing that he would one day like to manage in England, the big question was where? Of course a certain West London club, (and I don't mean QPR or Fulham but the third club based in the London borough of Hammersmith) whose owner has coveted the ex-Barcelona manager openly for years, were favourites but only by those who hadn't seen how both Barcelona and Chelsea had treated their managers, it was never a marriage made in heaven was it. I would have thought that given Guardiola's background in coaching and his enjoyment at seeing young players graduate through a club's system that the only four English clubs who would appeal to him would be Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool, four clubs who have spent (or are spending) money on developing home grown talent.

With the 'snub' for Chelsea and the fact that Rafa Benitez is currently as welcome as a fart in a spacesuit among Chelsea supporters the next question is who will take over at Stamford Bridge come May? The answer could be down to whether or not Manchester City retain the Premier League title, if they do then Chelsea may turn their thoughts to Madrid and bring the 'special one' back to London, if they don't then it seems certain that Mancini will be sacked and the 'special one' will step into his shoes at the Etihad. That move would of course preclude any chance that Mourinho has of ever taking charge at Old Trafford. That will leave both Real Madrid and Chelsea needing managers and the intriguing thought that Arsene Wenger has many fans in Madrid whilst Jurgen Klop has been on the radar of Chelsea for the last couple of years. That in turn, are you still following at the back, could lead to David Moyes getting his wish of managing a bigger club than Everton and pitching up at either the Emirates or the Signal Iduna.

7 comments:

Span Ows said...

Pep to Arsenal, Moyes to United...

A Northern Bloke said...

Jurgen Klop?

He sounds like a character in "Allo, Allo!"

£200,000 a month for a flat? I think some people really do have too much money.

Paul said...

Moyes to United is an interesting idea.

Indeed Shy, just think what his pension pot must be worth!

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