Friday, April 27, 2012

Losing Pep

Following a stellar 4 year run with Barcelona, ex-player and soon to be ex-coach Josep "Pep" Guardiola will be stepping down as coach of the blaugrana.


During his tenure, he led Barcelona to an incredible run of 2 Champion's League titles, 3 Spanish League titles, 2 Club World Cups, 2 European Super Cups - forget even mentioning all of them, he helped the team amass an amazing 13 titles. He'll also get a coveted nod from TDZ as coaching the best club that this writer has ever seen.


Given his name, it's ironic that he says he doesn't have the same energy that he used to for the job as 4 years in the crucible of Camp Nou have worn him down. It didn't help that the team suffered a brutal stretch recently in which the team was eliminated from the Champion's League by Chelsea, and lost to league rival Real Madrid in Barcelona, all but clinching the league title for their rival.

Replacing him will likely be Tito Vilanova, his right-hand man for the past 5 years. I believe this will be the right move: promoting from within will provide tactical consistency and will serve the club well as they are designed to win in the present.

As for Guardiola, the 41 year old coach will not lack for job offers, including considerable sums allegedly thrown his way from such teams as Manchester United and the aforementioned Chelsea side.

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