Page 62 - Pep Guardiola: Another Way of Winning: The Biography

professionally, the first team had been declining. It wouldn’t be long before FC Barcelona would be
looking for a new manager.

Front seats of a plane taking the first team to China, summer 2007

For Rijkaard’s team, the 2007–8 season that was witnessing a revolution at the reserve level had
started in a similar depressing fashion to the previous, trophyless, campaign. Criticisms were

mounting from all quarters and as the season progressed the coach gradually lost the respect of the
dressing room.
Meanwhile, Ronaldinho was becoming increasingly introverted and had ceased taking orders from
anyone. Behind medical reports stating that he had ‘gastroenteritis’ the club started to hide his
absences from training sessions. By the middle of the season he had been ‘in the gym’ or ‘indisposed’
more often than training.
Often the Brazilian arrived at the dressing room wearing the same clothes from the day before after
being out all night partying. Frequently during training, he could be found sleeping on a massage table

in a darkened room at the training complex and, to make matters worse, a relationship between
Ronaldinho and one of Rijkaard’s daughters became common knowledge.
On more than one occasion, Deco turned up to training without having slept because he had taken
his sick child to hospital. While prioritising the health of his children over his job may not be the
greatest sin, his separation, one of ten marital separations or divorces within the squad, did not help

him focus. Rafa Márquez would also nip off and visit his girlfriend Jaydy Mitchell, often after
training and occasionally staying over – which wouldn’t have been a problem if she didn’t live in
Madrid. Thiago Motta had such a great night out on one occasion that one night became two and the
club literally had to send out a search party to find out where he’d got to. On that occasion, the
Brazilian didn’t escape punishment – becoming something of a scapegoat for someone else gaining a
reputation for his ‘samba’ skills: Ronaldinho.
After losing 1-0 to Real Madrid at the Nou Camp, Barcelona were seven points behind the leaders

halfway through the season and by the autumn there were murmurings among senior board members
that drastic action was required, that the best thing to do would be to get rid of the undisciplined
Ronaldinho, Deco and Eto’o – shifting the dynamic towards a younger, hungrier, more ambitious
generation led by Lionel Messi. They also doubted whether Rijkaard was the right man to lead the
new order. The president, however, publicly and privately backed the Dutchman.
Off the record, Guardiola was being briefed on the situation by first-team players and Laporta’s

allies. One even hinted to Pep in October that the prospect of him becoming first-team coach was
gathering pace behind the scenes: ‘Your name hasn’t come up officially at a board meeting, and you
haven’t heard this from me, but you’re going to be the head coach of Barcelona next season.’ In early
November, Pep’s name was eventually raised at a board meeting by one of the directors, proposing
that Rijkaard be replaced by the B team coach. However, Txiki Beguiristain was opposed to plunging
Pep into the middle of a crisis at the halfway stage of the season: too much too soon for a relatively
inexperienced coach.

Not everyone agreed with Txiki. Johan Cruyff became convinced that there was no way back for
the first team and that a change was needed. After ruling out Marco Van Basten – who was about to
sign a contract to take over at Ajax – Cruyff met with Txiki to discuss Pep’s potential. The former
Dream Team coach then went to see how Guardiola was doing, visiting him at the Mini Estadi to take