Page 200 - Pep Guardiola: Another Way of Winning: The Biography

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book comes on the back of conversations held in the last four years with Pep Guardiola, Johan
Cruyff, Joan Laporta, Sandro Rosell, Andoni Zubizarreta, Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta, Víctor

Valdés, Javier Mascherano, Lionel Messi, David Villa, Cesc Fàbregas, Pedro, Carles Puyol, Gerard
Piqué, Manel Estiarte, Emili Ricart, Oscar García, Michael Laudrup, Joan Patsy, Txiki Beguiristain,
Albert Ferrer, José Mourinho, and Louis Van Gaal, among others, who are or have been at FC
Barcelona.
I have to thank Pep Guardiola for his time but also for having sent an email to Sir Alex Ferguson,
which then became a trip to Manchester to talk to him. Apologies to Màrius for taking time from your
dad.

If it wasn’t for the trust of my agent David Luxton and Alan Sampson at Orion, this would have
never seen the light of day. Sorry for the delay again! Thanks to Lucinda McNeile for her patience,
too.
During the years, I have chatted about Pep (and much more) with good football friends that I want
to send a paper hug from here: Vicente del Bosque, Rafa Benítez, Mauricio Pochettino, Ramón
Planes, Pep Segura, Pako Ayestarán, Paco Herrera, José Manuel Ochotorena, Arrigo Sacchi, Brendan

Rodgers, Fabio Capello, Graham Hunter, Juan Ignacio Martínez, Unai Emery, André Villas-Boas,
Gary Neville, Wayne Rooney, Michael Robinson, Alfredo Relaño, Santi Giménez, Michel Salgado,
Marcos López, Joan Domenech, David Torras, Johanna Gará, Paul Jewell, David Trueba, Sique
Rodríguez, Johan Cruyff, Alex Castells, Juan Carlos Garrido, Borja Valero, Mikel Arteta …
The extraordinary hard work of Lee Watson and Elizabeth Duffy in editing this book is clearly
reflected in it. Isabel Díaz was always at hand for help, so thank you! Brent Wilks looked after
everybody while we rushed to get it all finished. And Jacquie Feeley injected enough confidence and

energy into everybody to get to the end. Thanks to Kevin for looking after her while she sorted out so
many worlds. William Glasswell offered new eyes to the project and now he is a mad football fan.
There are some good friends who deserve much more than a word, but at least a word they will get
for sure. Luis Miguel García who always opens my eyes, Gabriele Marcotti and our arguments,
Raphael Honigstein and Carlos Bianchi, Sergio Alegre who will always wear a six with Barcelona
and an eight with the national team, Mark Wright who is not always right, Chus Llorente and vodka

Chopin, Gustavo Balagué and culé, Yolanda Balagué and new-born culé, Chris Parle and shopping,
Stevie Rowe who heard so many Pep stories, Scott Minto who hasn’t got bored of them yet, Mark
Payne who doesn’t believe all of them, Damian O’Brian and DVDS, the Revista de la Liga team for
their love and passion about Spanish football, Andy Melvin, Barney Francis and Vic Wakeling for
allowing me to blossom in Sky Sports, Peter Bennett and a window on the proper world, Edu
Abascal for looking after AS while I finished this, Eduardo Rubio the coach, Gerard Nus and his
lessons, Encarna Martínez and Sonia Moreno, who shared wines and stories, and I owe a beer or two

to Sam Delaney and Jason Cundy.