When it was announced that Pep Guardiola would be taking
over at Manchester City from next season onwards, football’s worst kept secret
was finally confirmed. In equally shocking news, PSG will win Ligue 1, and Lee Cattermole
will be handed a suspension at some point during the season. The appointment is
an incredibly shrewd one on City’s part, and it will surely worry teams around
Europe let alone the Premier League. Guardiola is that good that he could’ve
walked into any management job in professional football after announcing that
he’d be leaving Bayern Munich. Choosing City does makes sense for both club and
manager, but has Guardiola taken the easy way out by moving to the Etihad?
Everything seems set up perfectly for Guardiola to take over
at City. He’ll inherit arguably the best squad in the Premier League that may
well end up title winners, and receive phenomenal financial backing to improve
it however he sees fit – just like he had at Barcelona, and just like he had at
Bayern Munich. It’s all very familiar. Very safe. Very comfortable. He’s done
it before, and there’s a very good chance he can do it again. Will this
appointment really tell us anything new about Guardiola’s ability as a manager?
Nobody can fault Pep for wanting to sample the Premier League
– it’s an affliction that strikes players and managers alike. Choosing any of
the other three members of last season’s top four would’ve been a much greater
task for Guardiola – probably tougher than any he’d face on the blue half of Manchester.
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| United players during one of many 0-0 draws this season |
Manchester United’s problems are evident for everyone to
see, and they run right the way through the club. Mismanagement at boardroom
level and a slowly crumbling academy only exacerbate the lethargic, pedestrian
and soul-sucking football the team has been playing for the most part of the
last two seasons. Steadying such a ship will be a monumental task for whoever
fills Louis Van Gaal’s shoes, and we’ll probably never know if Guardiola was up
for doing the job Sir Alex Ferguson approached him about when he retired.
Arsenal’s problems remain the same every season in Wenger’s
latter years. Not sign a player for a position where they’re lacking, play well
enough to be in the title picture, only to inevitably tail off to a third or
fourth place finish. A change in mentality is needed to turn Arsenal (whose style
of play most closely resembles a Guardiola side out of every team in the
Premier League) from serial bottlers to league champions for the first time in
over a decade. Who better for Wenger to pass the torch to than Pep Guardiola?
Chelsea’s inexplicable fall from grace would hardly be a
quick fix either. A dressing room full of big personalities has proved it can
turn on anyone if things go wrong, as Jose Mourinho found out this season. Would
Guardiola have been able to handle them?
The footballing world shudders to think just how good Manchester
City could become with Guardiola at the helm - not just as a football team, but as a football club in general. That doesn't change the fact that it would’ve been
interesting to see Pep take on a different challenge to the ones which he’s
become accustomed to. His managerial career is not even close to being over, so
there’s still plenty of time for him to step out of his comfort zone and really
get his hands dirty.
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