Carrot and the Stick?

It is that time of the year now, when we look back on yet another season of great football. We are gearing up towards another Champions League final and looking forward to the summer internationals. However, we knew all along that this summer would be different. In addition to the movement of players from one club to another, we will also be able to witness perhaps one of the most high profile summers in managerial appointments. Football has become very tactical, with the spontaneity of previous more innocent ages missing. The manager has to now make all important decisions. He is saddled with enormous pressure from top and bottom. Thus club owners and chairpersons are extra cautious in appointing the right person.

Sven-Goran Eriksson has just become the first high profile sacking. But then we also hear Frank Rijkaard getting the boot. Eriksson is someone whose methods have bored us, while Rijkaard’s teams have given all true football fans the real joy. Yet there is somehow a feeling that Sven is the unfortunate one. Rijkaard’s job was anyway on the line. We had been looking forward the whole season to see who would get the job amidst this merry go round of managers. The final appointment of Josip Guardiola is in many ways an anti-climax. Big names were touted like Jose Mourinho, Guus Hiddink and Luiz Felipe Scolari. But as we take a look back at Guardiola’s career, we can somewhat gauge this perplexing appointment. Guardiola is a Catalan true to heart. The blood of Catalonia runs in his veins and at times of trouble he might just about be the one to salvage a little pride for Barcelona Football Club once again. He was the Barca captain supreme, a natural leader of men and someone who would anchor the team together. The likes of Figo and Rivaldo may have enchanted the crowd more but his toe crunching tackles in the middle of the park were equally important. He has no experience at the top level of management, but has done well at the youth level helping bring the likes of Bojan Krkic and Giovanni dos Santos.

Guardiola’s appointment somehow takes me back to Real Madrid’s appointment of Jose Antonio Camacho a few years back. Real had just ended 2003-04 trophy-less, and needed the local passion and flavour. Camacho was deemed the right man. Yet, Camacho left within a few weeks at the start of the next season. Real were mired so deep in trouble that, that even he could not rescue them. Barca have similar problems, though they admittedly have an owner who is ready to sell the top stars if the team improves.

The recent plight of Barcelona F.C. in many ways offers a very good case study for modern management. Frank Rijkaard was one of those modern track suited managers who would come to the training ground and play with the boys. A sense of camaraderie existed between the players and the coaching staff. This went well at the club’s peak but once problems started, Rijkaard had little power to avert the situation. A great player he was who would teach the boys, but he was never one who could wield the stick alongside the carrot. Clubs like Manchester United have produced one great team after another in recent times is to a large extent because of the manager, Sir Alex Ferguson who belongs to the old school and keeps a belief in the distance between him and the players. Two years back Barcelona were on the brink of immortality before this self destructive streak set in. Ronaldinho was on his way to try and be a Pele, but he has suddenly been found considering himself bigger than the club. Frank Rijkaard’s managerial credentials were certainly on a high till mid 2006 at the team he had built right from scratch, but now all big clubs will consider twice before offering him the post. His man-management skills have certainly taken a beating.

Ultimately we all cry out for him and his team. In 2006 we thought this was going to be the best team for a long time to come. Barcelona was playing superb football and watching them was a delight. It was Total Football reinvented all over again, art at its highest. Yet now they perish. Perhaps now they need the stick of Guardiola much more than Rijkaard’s carrot.