Pep Guardiola certainly has his way of doing things. The former Barcelona coach had taken the unorthodox step of taking a year-long sabbatical and if anyone thought he would not stick to it, they were proved wrong.
A full year since he left the Nou Camp we now know where the next chapter of Pep’s career will take place come July. For the next three years he will be pacing the touchline at Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena.
When speculation was at its highest, Guardiola was only occasionally linked with Bayern and AC Milan. Instead he was constantly put in the frame for the Chelsea and ManchesterCity jobs. However it was a bit arrogant of the English media to think that Guardiola would be easily seduced by the so-called glamour and riches of “best league in the world” when there are other compelling projects available on the continent.
And could anyone imagine Pep at either Chelsea or Manchester City?
Whether the portrayal is true or not, Guardiola comes across as principled, philosophical and well spoken.
Trigger happy
It would be hard to imagine a professional relationship flourishing between him and the trigger happy Roman Abramovich lurking menacingly in the bowels of Stamford Bridge.
The lack of structure at Chelsea would also have been an issue for Guardiola where there is no set football philosophy and the linkages between the youth teams and first-team are tenuous at best.
Chelsea and Man City have been built on the foundations of an open cheque book and the 41-year-old coach has a patchy record in the transfer market, with the expensive swap deal involving Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Samuel Eto’o a case in point.
In contrast to the nouveau-riche clubs of the Premier League, Bayern is not only a club with a stellar history, but one of the best-run sporting organizations in the world.
One of the richest clubs in the world, it has virtually no debts.
Like Barcelona the club is run by its members, and similarly to the Catalan club ex-Bayern players are involved in the running of the club. You will still find legendary figures like Franz Beckenbauer, Uli Hoeness and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge involved at boardroom level which gives a sense of direction to the organization.
The Bavarian giants also have an excellent academy which consistently integrates young players into the first team. Like Barca, there is also a B team which plays in the lower divisions and can be used to scout up-and-coming youngsters who know the system.
And with a host of homegrown players like Bastian Schweinsteiger, Philippe Lahm, Thomas Muller, David Alaba, Holger Badstuber and Toni Kroos to build around, the squad bears a similarity to Barcelona’s where the products of La Masia form the foundation of the first-team.
Template
Like Barcelona, there is also set template of play from the U-9s to the first-team with 4-3-3 the preferred formation. Pep also favours a 4-3-3 with an emphasis on ball retention and pressing, although he will have to tweak his ideas to suit the Bayern system which is slightly more direct and places a stronger emphasis on wingers.
Guardiola will presumably spend the next six months studying Bayern Munich closely. Before taking on the Barcelona job in the summer of 2008, he had the fortune of already being a component of the club, managing the B team which gave him an insight into the problems that needed to be addressed.
Immediately after his appointment as first-team coach he had identified the rotten apples in the squad like Ronaldinho, Deco and Samuel Eto’o - and with the exception of the Cameroon international – they were pushed towards the exit door as their positive influence waned.
With current Bayern coach Juup Heynckes still in place until the summer, Guardiola may choose to keep his distance but he will more than likely be keeping abreast of issues within the dressing room.
The Bayern dressing room has not always been the most harmonious place and it would be no surprise if Guardiola was to make his mark immediately by getting rid of difficult characters like Arjen Robben.
