Barcelona has a long, rich history of appointing ex-legends as managers, with wildly varying levels of success. However, current boss Xavi has fired the Catalonians back to the top of their perch, which is a place where many FC Barcelona fans believe they belong. Although they haven’t entirely captured the imagination of the European football audience in the same way they did when Xavi was a player at the Nou Camp, he’s had an excellent start to his career in the dugout.
After finding his feet in 2021, Xavi implemented a style of football that has worked incredibly well over the last 12 months. First, he displayed the new and improved Barcelona during a mammoth pre-season friendly when Barcelona locked horns with Real Madrid in Las Vegas. Additionally, Xavi has also embraced the modern trends in sports, including the integration of innovative technologies and emerging markets, that are recently booming amid the growth of crypto esports betting options.
As a forward-thinking manager, Xavi recognizes the potential of crypto esports betting to enhance fan engagement and create new revenue streams for the club. By embracing this emerging market, Barcelona is staying at the front lines of the sports industry, attracting both traditional football enthusiasts and esports fans.
Pep Guardiola
The Barcelona team Pep Guardiola managed toward the end of the noughties and early 2010s was among the greatest club football sides ever. They destroyed formidable opposition so easily and dominated the European landscape that many believe it was the finest European club side of the 21st Century.
Current boss Xavi was an instrumental figurehead in this immense team, including fellow all-time great players such as Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi. Pep has dominated the European football scene, constructing another all-time great side in England with Manchester City.
Johan Cryuff
While Guardiola perfected a beautiful footballing strategy and style with these magical players, the foundations of this incredible squad and their methodology were carved out by another of Barcelona’s all-time great players and managers, Johan Cryuff.
The iconic Dutchman is widely revered as one of the greatest players ever. He joins a unique, coveted list of players who had similar levels of success on the pitch as they did in the dugout, leading Barcelona to multiple titles between 1988 and 1996, implementing the first embers of the Tiki Taka “Total Football” style and inspiring a young Pep Guardiola to follow his footsteps as another European Cup winning FC Barcelona manager.
Ronald Koeman
Although Xavi, Cryuff, and Guardiola are all prime examples of excellent players who managed to switch to coaching and stay at the top of their game, Ronald Koeman is an example of a manager who painfully highlights that great players don’t always make great coaches.
The prolific Dutchman is one of the greatest defenders of all time, he made up the spine of Cryuff’s phenomenal Barcelona squad in the early 1990s, and on his reputation alone, he landed the Barcelona job back in 2020. However, perhaps overlooking his poor managerial record because of his unbelievable ability and hero status on the pitch, the Barcelona board did not perform the required due diligence.
For example, Everton FC in England appointed Koeman in 2016, providing him with over £100 million in transfer funds. However, after bringing a series of spectacularly poor big-money signings, Everton was left in a terrible position in the league and off the pitch financially. Seven years on, and the English club is fighting for top-flight survival, with many fans placing much blame on the doorstep of Koeman’s atrocious overspending and management.
Although the board gave Koeman ample opportunity to prove himself at the highest management level, it was pretty clear he wasn’t the man for the job, even early on. The biggest blunder was his public falling out with Luis Suarez, telling the iconic Uruguayan that his best days were behind him, and allowing him to move to Atletico Madrid. Suarez scored 21 goals the following season and spearheaded Atletico’s second La Liga title victory this Century.
This wasn’t an isolated incident, and although Koeman still maintains the respect of Barcelona fans for his exploits on the pitch, it shows that the board needs to be more careful, and just because somebody had all the hallmarks of an iconic footballer doesn’t mean they can replicate that as a manager.
Conclusion
Barcelona has a much better success rate with ex-legends returning to manage the club, especially when you compare it with how other legends return to their clubs and tarnish their formidable reputation from their playing days.
It works the other way, too, Jose Mourinho and Alex Ferguson weren’t the best players in Europe, but they went on to excel in the more strategic role in the dugout. So ultimately, it’s up to the club to whittle it down and ensure their selection is correct, regardless of the reputation that precedes the manager in question.
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