On
Friday April 27, the day Barcelona scheduled a press conference for their
fabled coach to shed light on his future with club, if you were living under a
rock and just came out, you will be forgiven to suggest that the tension
leading up to the most anticipated announcement, was like a funeral, especially
in the Catalan.
The masses of the beautiful game pacing, biting their nails,
wondering in tenterhooks, in anticipation. Such is the importance of Guardiola,
not only to the players, but to all and sundry, revelling to the tiki-taka that
was refined close to perfection by Josep.
When
Pep came in, just under 4 years ago, Barca had just lost every trophy on offer
and Madrid snatched the League with Barcelona trailing them by 18 points. The
necessarily discipline was lacking, as Xavi recalls, “Suddenly little things
don’t matter so much, a kilo here or there, a couple of minutes late for
training.” He said. “And the next thing you know, the standards have dropped.
Pep came in and was on us like a hawk. Every half-kilo counted. Every minute of
training was vital.”
“Look
at the difference it has made.”
So
when the coach announced that he was stepping down at the end of the season,
saying that, “The passion necessary to continue, so the players listen to you
disappears after four years. I think that sincerely that the next person will
have things to bring that I can’t.
Every
day during four years, the demands are high, the demands are very high, the
pressure, the necessary energy to push the players and enjoy it. I need to rest
and move away” you can understand, given the intensity and high level of
panache Barca displays week in and week out.
However,
as the Melancholy grappled football enthusiasts, the players drew heart when
the President, Sandro Rosell said; “We are in a position to announce the name
of the new coach: It will be Tito Vilanova.”
The
players knew there and then, that they will only miss the personality but the
philosophy goes on. “We all wanted Pep to continue,” Barca captain Carles Puyol
said. “Once he had decided to go for the reasons he gave, which we understand
and respect, the best news was that Tito Vilanova would be staying. It’s a blow
Guardiola is going, but Tito staying means the project continues. Tito knows
the team better than anyone, knows a great deal about football, and understands
the philosophy perfectly.”
It
is even believed that Francesc “Tito” Vilanova is more forthright and
unrelenting regarding the Barca approach, as he told a Spanish newspaper El
Pais’s Lu Martin in 2009, “For us winning alone is not enough. We have an ideal
of youth team players and attacking football, as Barcelona culture demands.”
By Thato Ismael
Bosoga
Twitter: @Adv_blair
Story: http://goo.gl/kMqHN
