Pep Confidential (5 page)

Working first at Barcelona with Pep and now assisting him at Bayern, Estiarte prefers to keep a low profile. He understands more than anybody the difficulty of reconciling personal ambitions with the needs of the collective.

Nowadays, the Maradona of water polo is known most of all for his intelligence and intuition. Always ready to offer players the benefit of his own experience, his primary role is to support and protect Pep as much as possible, rather like a gifted midfielder making a well-timed pass to his striker.

Pep told me how important Estiarte is to him: ‘Coaching a football team is a lonely job and that’s why I value loyalty above all else. When you hit the inevitable rough patch, you need to know who you can trust. Manel helps me enormously in a host of practical ways and is always happy to take on some of the more irksome parts of my job. All of that is vital to me, but more than anything it is his loyalty and emotional support I prize. When I’m going through a difficult period, maybe even struggling with self-doubt, he is there for me. And he’s there to enjoy the good times as well of course. It’s wonderful to have someone I can chat everything over with. He was an elite athlete himself, the best in his field, and although we come from different backgrounds, as sportsmen we have a lot in common. Manel has an unerring instinct. He knows immediately if things are going well or not. He is quick to sense the slightest change in atmosphere and can tell me with absolute certainty whether or not the players are behind us. If there’s a leak he’ll know about it. After five years working together he has learned to filter what he shares with me and I leave it to him to decide. I regularly say to him, ‘Manel, what’s your take on this?’ and can always rely on getting an honest, intelligent response. He interprets body language brilliantly, too, and knows exactly what a particular look or gesture means. The true greats all share this quality, this intuition. Other sportsmen do things mechanically, but to be truly great you need this extra special ability. And Manel has it in spades. That’s why I need him here working with me – all of that and the fact that we’re good friends as well. This is the Maradona of water polo, who has achieved everything in his chosen profession and yet still he is the first to roll up his sleeves and get on with the task in hand, no matter how trivial.’

It is October 2012 and in New York, Maria, Màrius and Valentina, Pep’s three children, are still struggling to learn English and adjust to life at their new school. The Catalan coach’s phone is ringing off the hook with job offers.

Txiki Begiristain’s Manchester City are still keen, and very insistent. Abramovich is deploying all his charm. He wants Pep and is prepared to mould the team to his specifications. The Germans, too, are determined, although their pitch is slightly lower key and to the point.

‘Prepare yourself Manel. I’ve chosen Bayern’

Choosing Bayern does not mean signing the contract immediately, however. It is just the first stage in the negotiations about financial terms and footballing philosophy.

Hoeness promises Pep from the start: ‘Don’t worry, we’ll find the money.’

Bayern prefer to avoid debt and their policy is to ask their club members and sponsors to foot the bill for any new investment. In this case everyone is happy to invest in Pep.

They discuss their preferred playing styles and the kind of players the club will need. Not a lot more needs to be said. Pep, Uli and Kalle are on the same wavelength. The conversation goes so well it’s almost as if the three of them have a ball at their feet. They discuss Mario Gómez, Luiz Gustavo and Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, and Pep insists that he wants to hold onto Toni Kroos.

By December they are ready to sign the contracts, and president Hoeness meets Guardiola at his home in New York. Guardiola then informs Manchester City, Chelsea and AC Milan that he is going elsewhere and before long Sky Italia breaks the news. Bayern’s hand has been forced and on January 16 the club hastily issues a statement. Unfortunately they also, rather insensitively, fail to inform Heynckes first. The incumbent coach feels badly let down. His friends Hoeness and Rummenigge had told him they were looking for a replacement, but not who it was going to be.

Over in Barcelona tongues are wagging and Pep’s critics accuse him of taking the soft option. Little do they know that back in Munich Jupp Heynckes’ metamorphosis from coach to living legend has just begun and that he is about to lead his team through a jaw-droppingly successful treble, setting the bar tremendously high for his successor.

4

‘THEY WILL BE AT THE VANGUARD OF EUROPEAN FOOTBALL FOR THE NEXT FIVE YEARS.’

Munich, June 25, 2013

‘THE REJUVENATION OF Bayern Munich’s football is still ongoing. Phase three begins here.’

Paul Breitner, a Bayern and Real Madrid legend, is speaking from an office on Säbener Strasse. The conversation ranges from the late 1970s onwards as he outlines each stage of the regeneration project.

‘When Kalle [Rummenigge] and I played for Bayern under coach Pal Csernai, we used a certain system. And we stuck to that until 2008. Whether you call it 4-1-4-1 or 4-2-4 or 4-4-2 doesn’t really matter. The tactical ideas were the same. It was just that some of the moves were different. But that system is ancient history now. This is the 21st century and all of that should be consigned to the past.’

It was clear that things had to change at Bayern, but nobody knew exactly how to go about it. That is, until the arrival of Dutchman Louis van Gaal.

‘We knew that in the modern game you only win titles by playing the kind of football Barcelona espouse,’ Breitner points out.

‘Barça had started to play like a basketball team. They moved much more, kept circulating the ball and altering positions. They were aiming for high possession and liked to keep changing the rhythm of their game. It always felt like they had produced five hours of possession, when they had in fact only played for 90 minutes. That’s what modern football is all about. It’s what we need to be doing now and perhaps even for another decade. At least until another new idea comes along. But how were we going to bring our antiquated system up-to-date? Louis van Gaal was the answer we came up with and, happily, it was the right one because he completely transformed our football.’

For Breitner, Van Gaal represented the key to the first phase of the rejuvenation of Bayern’s game.

‘He changed a few positions and introduced possession-based football. We swapped Bayern’s traditional style for this high-possession game. But there was still no flexibility in terms of players’ positions and everyone had to stick rigidly to his own area. No one was allowed to wander out of his specified sphere of influence and we began to play one-touch football. We had to focus on passing the ball to each other. In some matches we ended up with 80% of possession, but there was no real rhythm or pace. After half an hour, everyone in the Allianz Arena would be yawning at this display of constant passing. I bet all of the 71,000 spectators could predict our every move. Our game was well executed but very, very predictable.’

Phase two would be in the hands of Jupp Heynckes.

Breitner: ‘He maintained Van Gaal’s system, but tinkered with this idea of constant possession. He pointed out that the basic idea was sound. What we lacked was speed and regular changes of rhythm. It took two years for him to fully implement his ideas and he was rewarded in the second half of season 2012-13, when we topped the league with a record number of points. In the first half of the season, between August and December he was still working on some moves but, by the beginning of the second half, in January and February, the team was already displaying the desired rhythm and was producing a completely different game.’

Now Pep will oversee the execution of stage three.

‘That’s it exactly. Heynckes continued to opt for fixed positions. He wanted a high-speed game that would produce a lot of goals. That was the key. It wasn’t just about possession; we wanted lots and lots of goals. Now, under Pep, we’re changing to more flexible positioning. We’ll be circulating the ball more and aiming to produce non-stop fluid movement, very much in the image of what Barça were doing two or three years ago, when they were at their peak.’

Breitner is speaking after he has just presented Guardiola as the club’s new coach. As such, his words speak of hopes and aspirations, rather than actual reality. Bayern, let’s not forget, have gone through seven different coaches in just 10 years. From Ottmar Hitzfeld to Guardiola. Seven. Not the most convincing evidence of rock-solid stability, even if Breitner’s words do go some way to justify the thinking behind their last three appointments.

It is a day after Pep’s presentation and people are already asking the inevitable question: ‘Is this the start of a new era in European football? Are we seeing the beginning of Bayern domination?’

In the Biergarten, a traditional Bavarian tavern in Munich’s Viktualienmarkt, three Catalan journalists address this very question. Ramon Besa of
El País
, Marcos Lopez of
El Periódico
and
Ara’
s Isaac Lluch are not convinced.

‘It could happen, but it’s by no means inevitable. Barça are showing no signs of deterioration. In fact, they’re strengthening all areas of their game. There’s no reason to believe that we’re witnessing the birth of the new dominant force in European football, the successor to Team Pep. We don’t as yet see Guardiola’s Bayern as the great new European dictator.’

Mounit Zitouni, a journalist with the German magazine
Kicker
, points out how important emotional intelligence will be to the success of Operation Guardiola. ‘Pep has a plan and the players will have to alter some of their current ideas. We journalists will also have to make an effort to understand what he’s doing. It’s vital that the players change their game and embrace this new style of football. But Pep, too, needs to adapt. This is going to be about everyone making some compromises in order to get the right results. These are quality players, but it is emotional intelligence that’s needed here as much as anything else.’

All over Germany, supporters gather in the great football cities to exchange views over a few beers. There are journalists and bloggers around and tonight we’re dining with one particular group active on Twitter using #tpMuc. One of their number, Stefen Niemeyer, a supporter who follows Bayern wherever they go, endorses the club’s decision. ‘In December 2012 we had lost our way in the Bundesliga, the DFB-Pokal and the Champions League. At that moment everyone was saying that Bayern were the perfect team, but that wasn’t the case. One of Bayern’s great strengths is that we never stop looking for ways to improve and move forward. They did it with Heynckes and now they’re doing it with Pep. Obviously Heynckes has left a very special legacy, but there are still things to aim for. We have a score to settle with Mourinho’s Chelsea in the European Supercup for example and it would be great to get a second consecutive Champions League title. Despite their unquestionable talent, our players could still improve certain areas of their game. There are still lots of things to work on, let’s put it like that. And Pep is the man for the job. This is a win-win decision.’

Making such a significant change when things are going so well would generally be considered the high-risk option in the world of football. ‘It actually makes complete sense to me and I’m right behind this decision,’ insists Niemeyer. ‘Up until last year Guardiola was considered the best coach in the world, for a whole host of reasons. This was a great opportunity for Bayern to take a leap forward and they took the right decision. Everyone benefits from this: Bayern Munich, the fans, Guardiola and German football as a whole. I think that his plan is to broaden his knowledge of the football played in other parts of the world and learn about different sporting mentalities. He’ll then apply that knowledge to the kind of game he learned at Barcelona, a game that comes pretty close to perfection. That’s why he’s been so keen to work abroad – to improve his own style, change his ideas and perfect his tactical approach. Pep has had a lot of time to study Bayern and I don’t think he’ll try to imitate the Barcelona game. He’ll set out to improve our football by making changes here and there, and then he’ll be off in three years, to study football in another country.’

Christian Seifert, chief executive of the Bundesliga, agrees. ‘Everyone in Germany is delighted with his appointment and there has been no hint of anger or jealousy. We all see Pep as a real godsend, someone whose contribution will benefit the whole Bundesliga. This is a very popular choice and things can only improve now.’

But back to Paul Breitner for a last word on the reasons for Pep’s signing. ‘For Bayern, Pep was the only suitable candidate. He was our future, the only possibility. All we had to do was work out how to get him.’

The Bayern board’s decision took courage. They were, after all, making changes to a winning formula. Breitner is keen to correct this notion. ‘That doesn’t reflect the facts of the situation. Even before the start of the 2012-13 season, Jupp Heynckes had told Hoeness and Rummenigge that it would be his last year. We knew that he was leaving and that we’d have to find a replacement and the board started to discuss Pep. In fact they had already been considering him well before we won the treble.

‘Then in March and April people began to challenge our plans. Heynckes was winning everything and the team was on top form. Why on earth were we going ahead? Because Heynckes had already taken the decision in June 2012 of course! Pep’s appointment wasn’t high risk. Everyone was absolutely convinced that he should be our next coach.’

‘So are we going to see Bayern dominating Europe just as they did in the 70s and as Barça have done in recent years?’ I ask next.

‘They’ll be at the vanguard of European football for the next five years, even without winning the Champions League every year,’ he assures me. ‘In reality you don’t have to win it every year to be considered the best. Bayern are about to embark on the same kind of golden era Barça enjoyed for five years. There is no doubt in my mind at all.’