Rob Hughes of the New York Times writes of the differences between Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and Barcelona manager Josep Guardiola.
Ferguson’s rise was tempered by an apprenticeship in the Glasgow shipyards, and he has managed soccer teams in 1,907 games over 35 years.
Guardiola, less than half the age of Fergie, came through Barcelona’s academy to play in one great era for the club, and accepted the chalice to coach the team’s collection of world stars last summer.
One is the grand-daddy of team managers, the other is still shedding the title of novice coach.
The distinction between them is that Ferguson manages not just the team but the club. He makes the decisions on who United hires, from schoolboy talents to multimillion-dollar star players.
The distinction between them is that Ferguson manages not just the team but the club. He makes the decisions on who United hires, from schoolboy talents to multimillion-dollar star players.
Guardiola, in keeping with the way that sports outside Britain appoints coaches, is precisely that: the coach of the squad of players put at his disposal by others.
“Managing change is the most difficult part of the job,” Ferguson said. “We have 18 nationalities in our club now, and I have reached a situation where I have two full-time scouts in Brazil, one in Argentina, others in Germany, France, etc. I’m dealing with different cultures, and find that very interesting from a management point of view.”
He has steered United to 25 trophies in 22 years, and managed the transition through different epochs during which the coaches, and, of course, the players, have become multimillionaire cult figures.
Guardiola has stepped instantly, but not effortlessly, into that world.
His team has just won the double of the Spanish league and cup, but when Barcelona’s own Web site tried to pin on the coach the accolade of being the driving force behind those achievements, Guardiola demurred.
“The only reason is the talent and commitment of the players,” Guardiola said. “I’m sure that with other players we wouldn’t have won the league. Yet with a different coach they might have done so."
“The key is their talent, humility and appetite for hard work in every single game. Soccer is about players. We coaches set out the rules and give some ideas for them to follow. All the rest is them, just them and they have done a great job.”
The modesty belies the taskmaster that Guardiola has become. His team plays with the discipline, the hunger that was his own mark as a tenacious midfield soldier in the successful team coached more than a decade ago by Johan Cruyff.
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