In 2009, a then 38-year-old Guardiola made history by becoming the first ever manager to win all the six major trophies he competed in. If this is not impressive enough, the 08/09 season was also his first official season as a football manager. The tiki-taka maestro was coach of Barcelona for four seasons and during this period, the Spanish giants enjoyed unprecedented success such as winning the Champions League in the 08/09 and 10/11 seasons.Â
Plus, Guardiola also provided a platform for Lionel Messi to win the Ballon d’Or award four years in a row (2009-2012).
After the 2011/12 season, Guardiola felt that he needed a break from the game to recharge and reflect on his coaching philosophy thus he stepped down as Barcelona’s manager to take a sabbatical. When his year-long sabbatical was over, the Spaniard joined German giants Bayern Munich. Â
As head coach of the Bavarians, Guardiola also enjoyed great success with the club by winning numerous Bundesliga and other domestic titles. However, one crucial factor that many use to gauge the Spaniard’s achievement at Bayern Munich is the fact that he failed to win the Champions League in the three seasons he was in Germany. On three different occasions, Bayern Munich under his tutelage made it to the semi-finals but never got past this point.
Before the conclusion of the 2015/16 season (his last year as Bayern Munich’s coach), Guardiola had decided to become the next coach of the English side Manchester City.
Many football analysts and football stakeholders alike were confident that joining the Premier League would be the Spaniard’s Achilles heel. This was primarily because it was perceived that his possession-based style of football could not match the intensity of the Premier League. Apart, from the contrasting football styles, many also questioned his ability to manage players with big egos, something that the Premier League had in abundance. In the past, he has had altercations with Mario Gotze while at Bayern Munich and more famously Zlatan Ibrahimovic while at Barcelona.
After his first season as coach of Manchester City, it appeared that Guardiola was proving his doubters right. Manchester City failed to achieve anything noteworthy in the 2016/17 season. They did not win any trophy, were knocked out of the Champions League in the round of 16 and finished 3rd in the Premier League.
Despite a poor start to the first season, the Spaniard shocked the world with what he went on to achieve in the coming years as Manchester City’s coach.
Seven years down the line and after spending over £1 billion on transfers, the Cityzens have won 16 major trophies under his management. They are also currently the defending Premier League champions – in fact, they have been defending the title for four years in a row now which is a new record. In the eight full seasons, the Spaniard has been Manchester City’s coach, only Antonio Conte’s Chelsea and Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool have beaten them to the Premier League title.
As things stand, Guardiola has enjoyed trophy-laden spells at all the 3 clubs he has coached so far in his career. However, one other common theme that stands out regarding his career is how the Spaniard only joins clubs with well-established players that can also provide him with a heavy war chest to recruit players of his choosing. This has led many to question whether he deserves to be put in conversations with great football coaches like Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and Sir Alex Ferguson despite his illustrious and accomplished career.
To put it into perspective, Jose Mourinho won the Champions League with a rather fringe FC Porto squad in 2004. Sir Alex Ferguson was a serial Premier League winner with Manchester United and he achieved this without having to spend hefty sums recruiting players.Â
One cannot counter the fact that throughout his managerial career, the Spaniard has always positioned himself where he has access to some of the best players in the business. For example, at Barcelona, he had 7-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi plus Sergio Busquets, Xavi Hernandez and Andreas Iniesta, arguably the best midfield trio in the history of the beautiful game. At Bayern Munich, he had Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Muller, Phillip Lahm.. among other stellar players. At Manchester City, he met players like Kevin Debryune, Sergio Aguero, David Silva, etc and over time has spent north of £1 billion recruiting players like Erling Haaland, Jack Grealish and 2024 Ballon d’Or winner Rodri.
Still, it is important to note that achieving great success with a great team is far easier said than done. To offer more perspective to this statement, since 2016, the owners of Everton have spent over £600 million on players but have not achieved anything worthwhile over this period. The Toffees have not qualified for any European competition not to even talk of winning a trophy. It’s been a little over two years since Todd Boehly became the new owner of Chelsea and over this period the club has spent over £1 billion on signing players. Their greatest accomplishment thus far is reaching the Carabao Cup final which they lost to an injury-ravaged Liverpool side.
Now let’s look at faraway Paris Saint Germain. In 2011, the Emir of Qatar bought a 70% stake in the French club. He also made it explicitly known that his primary ambition was to bring the Champions League trophy to the club. It is well over ten years since this acquisition was made and the French giants have spent over £1 billion on players which includes the £400 million acquisition of only Neymar Jr and Kylian Mbappe but are yet to win this trophy since then. Both Neymar Jr and Mbappe have since departed from the club meaning that the Neymar-Mbappe project was an almost half a billion pounds failure.
Guaranteed, Guardiola has only managed clubs where he has access to stellar players and the financials to recruit any player of his choosing but he has managed great feats at all of these clubs. The fact that he’s done this three times in three different countries i.e. Spain, Germany and England is really saying something.
The factor that most likely makes the Manchester City coach a serial winner is the ruthlessness he incorporates into his management style. Only a handful of managers in the history of the sport have exhibited his level of ruthlessness. For example, after an underwhelming first season at Manchester City, he got rid of almost all the defenders and spent well over £200 million on recruiting new defenders and a goalkeeper. The following season, his side won the Premier League by a record 100 points.Â
At the end of the 2021/22 season, Guardiola believed he could bolster his side’s attack so he sold Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling and replaced them with Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez. This decision paid off handsomely because, in the 2022/23 season, Manchester City not only won the Champions League title for the very first time but also won the treble. On an individual level, Erling Haaland broke quite a number of individual records and almost won the Ballon d’Or but lost out to Lionel Messi.
The major talking point of this new season is the 115 charges levied against Manchester City and the punishment they would receive for it. So far, the Premier League administration has kept everyone in the loops as to what to expect from their judgement. There is a chance that the punishment might be as severe as the Cityzens being stripped of some of their titles.
This lingering issue of the 115 charges might be affecting the mentality of Manchester City players as the club are currently on a very poor run of form. After the 4-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspurs over the weekend, the defending Premier League champions have now lost 5 matches in a row. This is the first time Guardiola has experienced this in his career as a coach.
At the start of the season, Guardiola’s side was clearly the favourite to win the Premier League title. Now, after only 12 matches, Arne Slot’s Liverpool are now favourites to win the title as they are 8 points clear of Manchester City on the table.Â
Both these sides will face off this weekend and should Liverpool end up victorious, they would be 11 points clear of Manchester City after just 13 matches.
If this happens, some believe that it would signal the beginning of the end of Pep Guardiola’s dynasty at Manchester City.
Ultimately, the true measure of a manager’s success is the silverware they bring home. While Guardiola’s philosophy and tactics have undoubtedly revolutionised the sport, it’s the trophies that cement a legacy. Arsenal, for instance, have played some of the most attractive football in recent years, but without trophies, their achievements will soon fade into memory.
Guardiola has consistently delivered titles at the highest level. His ability to extract maximum performance from world-class players, coupled with his tactical brilliance, has set new standards in the world of football. His influence on the game, from Barcelona’s tiki-taka to Manchester City’s quick transitioning, is undeniable. While his current struggles with Manchester City are a cause for concern, it’s premature to write him off. History is full of examples of legendary managers like Carlo Ancelotti and Jose Mourinho who have experienced setbacks only to rise again.
