| Title | : | The Barcelona Legacy: Guardiola, Mourinho and the Fight For Footballs Soul |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 318 |
| Publication | : | First published August 9, 2018 |
Barcelona, late-nineties: Johan Cruyff's Dream Team is disintegrating and the revolutionary manager has departed, but what will come next will transform the future of football. Cruyff's style has changed the game, and given birth to a generation of thinkers: men like Ronald Koeman, Luis Enrique, Laurent Blanc, Frank de Boer, Louis van Gaal, and Cruyff's club captain Pep Guardiola and a young translator, José Mourinho.
The Barcelona Legacy is a book in part about tactics, about how the theories that underpin the modern game were forged by Cruyff and his successors, but also about the people and personalities who gathered at the Camp Nou for what was effectively the greatest coaching seminar in history, about their friendships and rivalries and, in one case, an apocalyptic falling out that continues to shape the game today.
The Barcelona Legacy: Guardiola, Mourinho and the Fight For Footballs Soul Reviews
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Over time, I've cooled in regards to Wilson, who has gone from writer with a different perspective to grating know-it-all. If you can ignore his personality, this is actually a very good book, but there were too many eye-rolls for it to be brilliant.
Although it's called the Barcelona Legacy, really this is a book about four personalities - Cruyff, Van Gaal, Mourinho and Guardiola. Other football names are included, but this is a mini-biography of them and their teams. As a concept, this is a bit iffy. As a book, it worked quite well. Wilson is both knowledgeable and balanced - impartial would be the wrong word as he is fairly unfavourable, but not unreasonable in his criticisms.
After a tortured family tree from Queen's Park to Barcelona, about as reliable as the lineage at the start of the Gospel, Wilson gives some background on Cruyff before discussing his time at Barcelona, and the remaining managers above who were all at the club in the late 90s. If there was a unifying theme, it would be the extent to which Cruyff's influence lived on in the managers' methods, as Wilson looked at how the managers acted and their relative success. I did think this worked well, as Mourinho and Guardiola's careers are hardly obscure, and this prevented it from becoming a pure rehashing. The discussions of training sessions were revealing but the parts about Van Gaal were newer to me and more interesting, and as Wilson had interviewed him his thoughts were personal, rather than inferred from press cuttings.
I can only assume Wilson didn't want to bore the reader with the club politics as sometimes this was quite vague - the machinations of power at Ajax went over my head as Cruyff manufactured a power base then lost it within a paragraph. Unfortunately, Wilson wasn't so restrained when it came to trivia and auditions for Pseud's corner. Did mentions of Milton and Dekker really add to the text? At one point Wilson seems to criticise Mourinho for pointing out he has won medals under three different UEFA presidents "to others this might be a curiosity", but later asserts that' the KNVB were sticking to their trusted model resolutely' because 3 out of 4 Dutch managers had played for Sparta Rotterdam in 1981. If it was that resolute, they'd have made sure all of them fit the bill. Clearly Wilson had loved this bit of trivia and had to invent a narrative in order to include it.
There were also some bizarre footnotes* quoting sources rather than simply putting 'as Xavi told Sid Lowe in a Guardian interview', say, and other witticisms such as Mourinho (whose great uncle was an aristorat) playing football with his neighbours 'or servants' (HA!), and altogether these were really annoying. Which is a shame, as he doesn't need to do it if the core book is good enough, as in this case.
*in the book The Barcelona Legacy. -
I enjoyed this, I find Jose Mourinho fascinating and Jonathan Wilson writes a solid interesting story here. I think one of the most interesting aspects is the small world interconnected nature of the football managerial round about and that comes across very well here, at times reading almost like a soap opera. Plus there’s a podcast covering important matches discussed in the book and apparently you can never have too many football podcasts to listen to.
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It was less about FC Barcelona’s history, and more about Cruyff, Van Gal, Mourihno, and Guardiola and their times with various clubs such as Ajax, Manchester City, Chelsea, and (of course) Barça. It also speaks of “Total Football” and how it has been implemented and has evolved through these coaches. Interesting read, but not what I expected.
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A fascinating read bringing the skills of the Scottish football international and newsagent R S McColl and Jose Mourinho together via the links of Johan Cruyff and Pep Guardiola. The best football book I have read this year.
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An enjoyable read, looked forward to this and it was worth the wait.
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Un análisis del estilo Cruyff y sus influencias. Contextualizado y crítico. Ofrece una lectura interesante de los últimos 20 años de fútbol en términos tácticos, estratégicos, estructurales y disciplinarios. Wilson es una garantía. Siempre.
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Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho were until very recently the two most dynamic managers in world football. Their histories, their past meetings and the personal rivalry they developed in Spain (later in England with the two big Manchester clubs) are explored in this excellent book.
The history of both managers is traced back to its source, all the way to the formative era of 'Total Football' at Ajax Amsterdam. Rinus Michels looms large, but casting an even bigger shadow is Johan Cruyff, the genius footballer who was a chief exponent of Ajax's tradition, carrying it into the ethic of the Dutch national team and finally to FC Barcelona. As manager and later godfather of the Catalan giant, Cruyff's teachings gained traction, certainly with Josep Guardiola, a midfielder developed within the club who improved as a consequence. Over the years, Pep would modify and adapt the 'Cruyffian' philosophy to his own management style, leading to some of the most devastating club sides of the last twelve years. At Barca, Bayern Munich and Manchester City, his tactics have delivered consistent and dominant success, and additionally have suggested a positive and entertaining way for football to be exhibited.
Mourinho's background is more humble than Guardiola's, though his time in management has lasted longer. First emerging as a translator for Bobby Robson during the English Mister's time in charge at the Camp Nou, Mourinho stuck around and then went into the managing of teams for himself, gaining prominence when he won the Champions League with Porto. Hugely successful spells at Chelsea and Internazionale followed, though Jose slowly pulled away from the Cruyffian method within which he developed his own philosophies. Favouring a defensive minded and counter-attacking approach, Mourinho's teams eschewed the Barca fundamentals of possession football and midfield passing to produce something akin to an anti-Cruyff game.
With Guardiola at Barca and Real Madrid hiring Mourinho, the pair entered into direct rivalry, which spilled over into bitterness and personal attacks on each other. As entertaining as this undoubtedly was for spectators and the media, this atmosphere took its toll. Stress levels grew as the stakes were raised to dizzying heights. Things continued when the pair took on opposing teams in the Premier League, but by now a certain fatigue crept into their exchanges. Mourinho's dazzle faded as he failed to transform Manchester United into winners again. At the Etihad, Guardiola continues but his lustre isn't what it was as Jurgen Klopp's 'third way' gains traction at Liverpool, and he hasn't yet achieved the Holy Grail of the Champions League with them.
Other people are raised as supporting characters, notably others in Cruyff's wake like Louis Van Gaal and Ronald Koeman. These are equally fascinating individuals, both strong-willed and there's something that's just good fun about following the ups and downs of Van Gaal. He doesn't suffer from a lack of self-belief, but delivered an inconsistent range of results as his methods either took or did not with his players. A Champions League winner at Ajax and successful with AZ Alkmaar and the Netherlands, Van Gaal ultimately fell, like Mourinho did later, at Old Trafford. Perhaps that says more about the situation at United than for either manager, both geniuses but unable to arrest a period of malaise at this massive club that prizes commercial success over what it produces on the pitch, and which relied wholly on the work of their predecessor, Sir Alex Ferguson.
Mourinho comes forth as a divisive character, not exactly likeable but certainly charismatic, carrying deep-rooted flaws that can contribute to his downfall in certain jobs. The book suggests that he did well at Porto, Chelsea and Inter because none of these teams were massive enough to be bigger than the manager and thereby allowed him to force his will and personality on who they signed and how they played. At Real and United, club traditions were far more consuming and diminished the Mourinho effect. Much is made of the ethic of Seniorito at the Bernabeu, the aim for gentlemanly conduct, which he undercut with his negative brand of football and his petty barbs at Guardiola.
As for Pep, it's easy to cast him as the good guy, ordering the more attractive style of play and suffering for his passion to impose success and his ethics on the sides he's managed. But in the end he's every bit as obsessive as Jose, and you're left to imagine the sheer toll his emphasis on endless work and obsession has taken on him and on others. The football he wants might be joyful, but the effort to achieve it seems to be anything but.
It's a fascinating book, a deep dive into the backgrounds of two of the most dominant characters within the game in the past two decades. It refuses to get bogged down in turgid tactical discussion and places as much emphasis on the human beings involved, their personal strengths and weakness that translate into the ups and downs of the teams they have coached. -
Jonathan Wilson is one of my favourite journalists, his attention to detail and style of writing has always appealed since the days of "Inverting the Pyramid" ten years ago.
The subject matter of this book was not new to me, having read the works of Sid Lowe for one in the past, but JW pulls together some very familiar stories in an engaging and interesting manner making links across the heritage of the Dutch approach to football and how that is informing the game right upto today.
The manner in which the current crop of managers have been influenced by the developments at Ajax in the 1970s and Barcelona during both the 1970's playing period of Cruyff and later during his managerial stints at both clubs is fascinating to reflect upon.
This is not only in the direct manner of influence seen in the work of Guardiola at Barca, Bayern and Manchester City but also in the other extreme, the anti-Cruyff approach taken by Mourinho in the years since 2008 when , as the author proposes, the Portuguese has been on a campaign to prove that the pressing possession based style of the modern adapted Cruyff can be beaten by a more destructive defensive style that scorns possession.
The incentive for this campaign being driven by the rejection that Mourinho experienced when applying for the manager's job at Camp Nou, a rejection made more painful by the Catalan club appointing Guardiola to the post.
Drawing in the parts played also by Van Gaal and Koeman in the successes and history of Barcelona over the last twenty years as well as the driven nature of Guardiola and his obsessiveness that has driven such success over the last decade but which proved to be too intense for him to continue at Barca this is a very informative and enjoyable book -
Although named "The Barcelona Legacy" this book should be read as "The Cryuff Legacy". To be blunt before the arrival of Cryuff-the most influential person in football also one of the best ever to play the game-Barcelona, though a big name, didn’t have a legacy or to put it more aptly any style.
After the arrival of Cruyff-the manager Barcelona's fortunes changed in the trophy count but what makes Cryuff and his input such an elevated status in the game is how his ideology shaped the modern game by his greatest acolyte Pep Guardiola and the charsimatic but result oriented Jose Mourinho.
This is basically a amulgamation of 4 bios-Cryuff/Van Gaal/Pep/Mourinho.So we see how Cryuff views the game and how it influnenced his philosophy,how Van Gaal's differs from Cryuff(spolier-not much),How Pep is way more flexible then he was givem credit for and what really sets Jose of today to that of 2010.
Wilson tried to be as much objective as possible but still it can't gloss over the fact that Jose mourinho is a control freak with a machieavilan mindset.while his force of personality made him successful in Porto/Inter/Chelsea,at Madrid and United his underdog strategy was simply unfeasible.
What this book lacked is the Klopp Revolution but that would betray the premise of the book so that omission though eye catching is logical and also i am glad that wilson pointed out how political it is to manage both Madrid and Barca.In English dominated media this fact is not amplified enough.
A great read for those who wants to know about the evolution of Total Football to Juege de Posicion through the prism of Cryuff/VanGaal/Pep and despite his baptism in Total Football how Jose veered to the Dark Side(for the football aesthetics among us).
A very good read.
4/5 rating from me -
Interestingly, the subtitle of the edition I received for Christmas is "The evolution of modern football from Cruyff to Guardiola", which is certainly the book Wilson set out to write. Whichever marketing wonk came up with this "Fight for football's soul" line obviously has a flair for melodrama but has also nailed the book's actual USP. By far the longest and most rewarding chapter is the one which covers the Pep v Jose La Liga years, a compelling slice of modern football history that was ultimately toxic for most of the people involved. That being said, it's not quite as good as a long-form article of Wilson's from a few years back - called, I think, The Devil and Jose Mourinho - which leaned even further into the Pseud's Corner-worthy religious and cultural analogies.
The rest of the book is a decent read, as is always the case with Wilson on tactics and managerial personalities. More proof, if it were needed, that Cruyff was a grumpy, unhinged ideologue, Pep a tetchy, neurotic ideologue, van Gaal a pompous yet self-aware arsehole and Mourinho perhaps the most fascinatingly repugnant character that football has produced. -
If you love football (soccer) and love analysis of modern tactics then read this phenomenal book. Jonathan Wilson is a great story teller, as I found out in reading Inverting the Pyramid, and he does a lot of that to make his point in this book. I would say Wilson is at the forefront of proper good football tactics analysis. My only minor complaint is that there's a slight bias to attacking post-Cruyffian tactics as opposed to counter-attacking post-Cruyffian tactics (or really any counter-attacking football in general), but anyone is going to have a bias one way or another. *spoiler* for the first 9/10s of the book Wilson is a gloating adoring fan of Guardiola and his style of play, with the exception of a jab here or there about "But he didn't win the Champion's League" (at Bayern), but he so incredibly and concisely points out the weaknesses to Guardiola's interpretation/implementation of Cruyff's philosophy in the last 10 pages. Lastly, I've never seen a description of Mourinho's faults that I've more agreed with.
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Good sequel to “Inverting the Pyramid”
Of all football journalists, Jonathan Wilson (JW) is the best. He knows his tactics, his history and all the stats. JW has managed to put his football fanaticism to good use, i.e. enlighten the rest of us. Inverting the Pyramid (ITR) is the best football book I’ve ever read, so I figured to give this book a try. I grew up in the 80s/90s and have followed football ever since. The pace of play, athleticism, passing, intelligence and mental hardness have all improved dramatically. If you watch a game from the 70s, you almost fall asleep compared to the spectacle of the average Champions League match. Today it’s like you’re watching a pinball machine. You have lightning fast wingers like Robben and Mbappé, center backs built like MMA fighters, midfielders with the lung capacity of horses and absurdly high passing accuracy, etc., etc. The game today is much more demanding than it was in the past. It’s fair to say that football attracts the best athletic talent in the world, at least in Europe, South America and Africa. The non-UK anglo-world optimises, of course, for other sports.
JW focused himself in ITR on football tactics from 1900 to 2000, this book is much more about football philosophy from the early 70s until today. As footballers became ever better in quality, the spectacle of play often became less. There is no fun to see teams who make ZERO mistakes in defence. These teams might very well win prestigious prizes, but who remembers a clinical effective eam like the 2012 Champions League winning Chelsea? Nobody. OTOH, yet every foorball fan remembers the spectacular Champions League winning Barca of 2011. This has a lot to do with the mentality coaches instill on the players. Barcelona often plays to impress and entertain, Chelsea plays to keep a clean sheet and win. JW focuses on the football legacy of Johan Cruyff, his acolytes (Van Gaal, Guardiola, Koeman, Luis Enrique, Rijkaard), his nemesis (Mourinho) and Ajax, Barcelona, Bayern, Spanish and Dutch national team in general to explain these different views of football. According to JW the prominence and brilliance of the entertaining teams stems from the insights of Cruyff and his successors who improved upon it. The result-oriented coaches like Mourinho believe that the final score is all that matters. (Looking at his resume, he's not wrong!)
I don’t think either of these philosophies is a definite answer. Football is a spectator sport and must entertain, but in the end champions, by definition, must win! The curse of Dutch football has always been that they impress, but lose. (Though, the Dutch national tried to play for results in the FIFA WC final 2010, but still lost. So, it's better to impress after all?) Either way, it’s a fascinating discussion: should football coaches impress audiences or focus on results? The British clubs have gone to the Mourinho side: it doesn't matter who clubs put in that jerseys, how they score or what they do off the pitch -- as long as they win. Even nowadays, big money has taken over Barca, and no club has won more European Championships than Real Madrid, so... we're all galacticos now?
In his heart JW is still a football romantic, like Cruyff, but in the end football players choose money over clubs and therefore the richest clubs will rule the roast. Sometimes, we luck out when Guardiolas manage these clubs and entertain us, but sometimes we get (and need!) Mourinhos to deliver us the cold results. -
This is a fun read. Tracing the soccer philosophy of Barcelona in Cruyff's students: van Gaal, Guardiola, Mourinho, Koeman, Enrique, and others. It's quite shocking how much Cruyff's influence lasts considering how much managers in the modern game takes his idea of controlling the balĺ and how they act when they don't have the ball. Even those that can be categorized as anti-Cruyff such as Mourinho creates a game plan that largely responds to the Cruyff gameplan. There's always a constant tug of war between pragmatism and idealism since sometimes even when you have a great philosophy, you still can't win trophies (e.g. Guardiola can't win Champions League after his 2011 Barcelona Team).
This book traces this story through an in detail analysis of (mainly) Mourinho and Guardiola Teams throughout the years. I really enjoyed the back stories. Didn't know how so much of these world famous coaches were all in Barcelona during the Bobby Robson years (Guardiola, Enrique, and Koeman were players, Mourinho was translator). Enjoyed the personalities too. -
One of the biggest fans of football club Barcelona, the guardiola and Mourinho era was personally the best era in the history of soccer. Guardiola became the Barcelona head coach in 2008-2012 while Mourinho, the rival coach for Real Madrid, was appointed as head coach in 2010-2013. The book goes in depth about the great rivalry between both clubs and coaches during the most successful time for both of these clubs as they were both the kings of world football during this 3 year period. Since I was able to see this amazing rivalry I am glad to say this book checked all the boxes when it came to providing all the information. The book talked about the classicos, Messi vs Ronaldo, the Champions league, La Liga etc. Anyone who was able to enjoy and watch this beautiful period of soccer knows everything is true and I am delighted to have this book and read success my team FCBarcelona had and how we dominated our biggest arch rivals Real Madrid and we did in style by playing lovely soccer thanks to the great coag and FCBarcelona legend Guardiola.
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If you are a football fan and enjoy seeing the bigger picture, then this is a great book for you.
One has to give Wilson credit for reconstructing the intellectual history of the (post-)Cruyffian football tactics and to narrate the careers of its protagonists (and main antagonist Mourinho) without too many fatiguing details and accounts of single matches. This is a considerable accomplishment, because if one follows the daily reporting on football only, one may not detect the important undercurrents of football's tactical development. (This review makes it clear that the title and cover of the British edition of the book [Blink Publishing] is somehow misleading and tries to cash in a little on the notorious and bitter enmity between Guardiola and Mourinho.) After reading this book, one cannot underestimate Cruyff's school of thought and, fortunately, in the final sentences of the book Wilson is honest enough to show proper reverence towards this revolutionary. -
Fascinating!
Didn't expect this book to be so 'entertaining'.
Though the title says Barcelona but the author has touched upon other clubs like Real Madrid, Ajax, Chelsea etc
Didn't expect much of Mourinho in a Barcelona book but again that's another pleasant surprise.
Loved the behind the scenes details of some of the most thrilling footballing events over the last 15/20 years as it made me nostalgic and I relived those thrilling and sometimes painful nights.
A beautiful book about undoubtedly the beautiful game....played in a beautiful way ( well mostly)!
No matter which club you support, it is a must read for any football fan. -
A very solid book! Amazing stories and brilliant characters and personality from all areas of the world.
However I was disappointed with some important contexted missed or even some incorrect facts. As most Johnathon Wilson books it goes on for a bit to long and adds way more detail then necessary which can makes the book feel like a drag which is a shame as it’s a very entertaining book.
I’m shocked it’s taken me a whole month… I do believe though it comes down to the pure fatigue and mental exhaustion that comes with his books and the amount of unnecessary detail plus I’ve been over the top busy. -
A slightly more schematic book would have had the genealogical structure the subtitle suggests. As it stands, it's a deft account of the subtle and combative interconnections of Ajax, Barcelona, the Spanish men's national team, and the various teams of Pep and Mourinho-- a story with quite a few twists in it in the first half of the 2018-19 season no less, and with implications for MLS now that Atlanta have hired Frank de Boer.
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Summary of 50% of the book ... ‘I don’t hate José .. but ... ‘
It is a bit sad to trace José from Porto era to the end of his time at Man U ..:
And another season gone , another league title for Pep and another disappointing CL.
To me that’s the most interesting question - is there something inherent to the Peo approach that makes them vulnerable in knockout competitions or is just down to randomness? -
One of the better Wilson's books, and that's not an easy feat. It could have been called "Post-Cryffism in European Football" as the likes on Van Gaal feature just as prominently as Guardiola or Mourinho. I wish there is a revised edition after Mourinho's sacking from Man Utd - though the pattern is very firmly established, I am not sure there is much new evidence there.
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Cruyffianesimo contro post Cruyffianesimo.
Cruyff e i discendenti del suo credo calcistico (Guardiola Koeman Van Gaal) contro la destrutturazione del gioco, Mourinho.
Wilson è probabilmente il migliore scrittore di calcio in circolazione, cuce aneddoti e filosofia come fosse stato presente. La sintesi degli ultimi 20 anni di calcio europeo. -
Het geeft een gedetailleerd verhaal van de cruijfiaanse voetbalstijl. Tevens leer je interessante weetjes over opmerkelijke gebeurtenissen rondom Barcelona. Niettemin lijkt de schrijver een aanval te tonen op Mourinho en iedereen die niet de filosofie van Cruijff deelt. Dus het boek is meer een betoog dan een objectieve kijk op de filosofie van Johan Cruijff.
