Delve into the mind of a footballing genius with these 8 great books about the legendary Catalan coach.
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For many years now, Pep Guardiola has been a name synonymous with football excellence, a legendary player turned manager whose tactics are akin to that of a chess grandmaster.
As one of the most successful and prolific football managers in recent history, it’s no wonder that many an author or journalist has attempted to get under his skin, step into his shoes and see what makes a champion tick. What each journalist finds is an eccentrically interesting character on and off the field, a man entirely obsessed with football and tactics. He is the genius that first deployed Lionel Messi in the false nine position after all. The rest, as they say, is history.
But how much do you really know about Pep Guardiola? Don’t stop at admiring his wild gesticulating on the sidelines week after week – here are eight books that any fan of the Catalan coach will love.
The former Olympian shadowed Guardiola for a year after his career-changing sabbatical and managed to capture the meticulous genius at work in a ground-breaking account which was the first time a journalist was able to get this close to an elite team for such a length of time. Though pipped to the Champions League final by Real Madrid, in his first season Pep Guardiola managed to steer Bayern Munich to a cool domestic double – and even shape the mindset of a few key players who went on to win a little thing called the World Cup that summer.
The thing with being an illustrious football manager who breaks all sorts of records is that eventually you start to surpass yourself, and an update of information is needed. After the great success of his first book (featured above), Martí Perarnau picked up where he left off and wrote a follow-up that takes the reader further than the first and documents the rest of Pep’s tenure at Bayern Munich and his decision to move to the Premier League. A great quote from the book is: “Pep’s wife, Cristina Serra, told me, ‘I think Pep shares too much in your book. Too much tactical information. He’s very open about these things in his press conferences too. Other coaches don’t do that.”
Guillem Balague is a respected football pundit and journalist for publications in both Spanish and English. His book Pep Guardiola: Another Way of Winning has been given an update, so it now includes up until his second season managing Manchester City, as well as take the reader back to the beginnings of his life and career in managing the Barcelona reserves. This book is perfect for helping to understand what kind of a person Pep Guardiola is and how he is able to extract such fantastic things from his players.
When Pep Guardiola was first touted to join Manchester City, there were the vocal few that thought he wouldn’t be able to recreate his previous successes in a fast-paced league like the Premier League. These are the same critics that argue Lionel Messi might not be the best player in, well, ever, because “could he do it on a rainy night in Stoke?” Pep Guardiola’s record at Manchester City now speaks for itself, but Lee Scott’s book dissects Guardiola’s blueprint for creating a title-winning team.
Jonathan Wilson is perhaps best known for his best-selling book ‘Inverting the Pyramid’ that has been the benchmark for tactics books ever since its 2008 release date, or being a regular contributor to The Football Weekly podcast. His book The Barcelona Legacy studies the infamous rivalry between Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola and how their careers are so intertwined that they find themselves often in the same place at the same time. He also explores the idea that Johan Cruyff’s legacy can be seen not only in Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola but in managers such as Ronald Koeman, Luis Enrique, Louis van Gaal and more.
Pol Ballus was a young Spanish football writer who moved to Manchester just before Pep Guardiola’s appointment to cover the growing number of Spanish players in the Premier League. Add legendary Spanish journalist Lu Martin to the mix and this great book was created. Together they were allowed access to Pep during his time at Manchester City and this book is filled with interviews and profiles of every key person at the club. One reviewer even said the authors are “honest to a fault”, meaning they couldn’t stop spilling the beans on how life at City works under the Catalan maestro.
Whilst this book is not technically directly linked to Pep Guardiola, it’s still one worth reading. In 2014, Germany won the World Cup, which coincided with the first season of Guardiola managing Bayern Munich. He had put some special work into honing the talent of key players such as Phillip Lahm, Thomas Muller and Mario Gotze (who scored the cup-winning goal). Perhaps it is merely coincidence, but during his reign at Barcelona, Spain went on to win two Euros and a World Cup with (surprise, surprise) players that Guardiola took under his wing. Since Pep arrived in England, the Three Lions have made it to a World Cup semi-final and, more recently, the Euros final. This book takes us on the journey of how a team that had struggled to recreate the success of their 1996 International team went on to win the biggest footballing title the world has to offer – sound familiar? Perhaps there’s something in it after all.
Pep Guardiola has been quoted as saying “I knew nothing about football before knowing Cruyff”, and one can take it a step further, reverse it and say can one cannot know anything about Guardiola without first knowing Cruyff. With the book title drawn from the Dutch three-time Ballon D’or winner’s legendary eponymous Cruyff turn (which to this day many footballers still attempt to mimic), to how he became the architect of Barcelona’s Dream Team – arguably one of the best line-ups in footballing history. This autobiography is of interest to any football fan but will help you understand where Pep learnt to become Pep.
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