Changes of managers at big clubs are never quite what they seem, for reasons that range from journalistic laziness or collusion to personalities and complex contractual issues- although in the end, as the great Spanish philosopher Ortega y Gasset once said, we are defined by who we are and our circumstances.
The departure of Pep Guardiola from FC Barcelona, once put down to a simple question of work life balance , and placed in a context of solidarity and sacrifice, seems likely to have involved more complex, less chivalrous issues than have been revealed thus far.
Far from conducting himself like a man who has lifted a huge weight off his shoulders, Guardiola is reported to be in a darker mood these days , like a mariner who has lost his bearings. People say he has not be so Hamlet-like since last season’s nasty verbal assault from Jose Mourinho and his allies, when the Barca coach was forced to publicly defend the reputation of his club- a job better done by presidents.
Indeed it is now an open secret that Guardiola ’s personal relations with FC Barcelona’s Sandro Rosell have never been as warm as they were with the previous president Joan Laporta- so it’s perhaps not surprising that Laporta supporters are using their active presence in social networks to suggest –as El Pais’s excellently well-informed Barca specialist Ramon Besa is now reporting-that Guardiola is not happy with the way his departure has been caricatured , and his apparent succession handled as a smooth, consensual hand-over to his close friend-turned anointed dauphin, Tito Vilanova.
Exactly why Pep is pissed off is not clear yet-but potential story lines emerging include deep disappointment , if not a sense of betrayal, among key players, not least Messi, who, more than any other of his team mates repeatedly begged Guardiola to stay despite , I am told, both being embroiled in an angry blow up in the dressing room on the night of the second leg of Barca’s Champion’s League semi-final encounter with Chelsea.
Guardiola himself meanwhile appears to have allowed his narcissism to get the better of him by trying to suggest- so I am told- that he should have been given more of a say and control over his succession by Rosell, while demanding no small amount of money for services rendered and for renewing his contract. One source who has known Guardiola personally and professionally for many years told me he was struggling to understand the coach’s motivation, and was worried about his state of mind.
Caught in the eye of a mounting storm is Tito Vilanova – a man who has spent most of his life in Guardiola’s shadow as a second-rate player and competent assistant but who was never destined to take over the management of the best club in the world in such testing times.
Vilanova, who only months ago survived a cancer scare for which he thought he might not emerge alive, has been plunged into the deep-end of waters that threaten to become increasingly turbulent in the weeks ahead as key decisions are taken about outgoing and incoming players, and the philosophical, political, and technical system best suited to a Barca without Pep. Not since Joan Cruyff’s controversial departure as manager in the 1990’s has there been a such a sense of palpable uncertainty rocking the inner corridors of the Camp Nou.
While the press conference did indeed leave me with the awkward sensation that Guardiola was not entirely comfortable with the announcement of Vilanova’s promotion, I fail to understand why he would be pissed off. I got the impression that he genuinely did not want to interfere with a project he was not going to be a part of. That he wanted to give Tito and the board the same courtesy he has expected from outsiders during his years in charge.
And who has given him the right to be pissed off anyway? After all, he is the one who chose not to renew. Surely Guardiola commands enough respect within the club to have his opinions heard if he really wanted to voice them?
No one individual is bigger than a club, and I cannot think of anyone who better epitomizes this than Guardiola. He has on more than one occasion refused to take much credit for the success that this team has achieved, instead underlining again and again that the players are in fact the ones doing all the work.
In my opinion, the only reason this would be a problem for Guardiola would be if the Tito announcement somehow disturbed the preparations for the Copa final. And that has not happened. If anything, this announcement has enabled the players to focus on their job, and not who’s going to be their boss next season.
Maybe I am being naive but this supposed conflict simply does not compute with the impression Guardiola has left me with during all these years. “There was a Barça before my time, and there will be a Barça after my time.” Obviously Guardiola the culé has an opinion like everyone else, but I sincerely doubt that Guardiola the ex-employee has any interest in the matter. He is more professional than that.
Either that or he is one hell of a liar.