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I’m currently reading (slowly) a biography of Pep Guardiola which includes his time up until he became the Man City manager but not after.

People are surprised by this man because he does things his own way. He has his own approach and philosophy to managing football teams from his beloved Barcelona through to Bayern Munich and now onto Man City.

It turns out his formula is transferrable, at least across western Europe.

Why are we surprised by this?

Why are we amazed at somebody that has done something in a different way which is at odds to the current thinking of how you should look after or manage teams in football?

Why do we stare wide eyed at somebody who nurtures, protects and develops the individuals within his care?

Why were we staggered by a manager of one of the best football clubs in the world when he refused to sign a pre-Madonna who, during the middle of a season, wanted to dictate a shirt number on his back and break the clubs wage structure to get there?

Why were we surprised by that?

Hasn’t it occurred to anybody else that in the long term building a team as a leader who protects the tribe, therefore allowing the tribe to protect them and doesn’t suffer ingress into the group from someone who would break and disrupt, is successful?

It’s a sad state of affairs I think that we’re surprised at how good Pep Guardiola is, but perhaps he read about our GB Women's hockey team and understood that people who elect their captain and who are treated like adults in the way that they prepare and train themselves react like adults and people who are treated like children act like children.

Blog post number: 1574