Pep Guardiola Says No to Being Barcelona Boss Again

Football is all about cycles, and Barcelona is no exception

Guardiola first played for Barcelona for over a decade (1990-2001) before taking up the reigns of the Catalan club during a super-successful four-year period (2008-2012) that saw them achieve unprecedented success. But the man that has just conquered the Premier League with Man City this season has ruled out ever taking up managerial duties at Barcelona again.

The former Bayern Munich boss stressed that in football it’s all about cycles, as his trophy-laden period with the Nou Camp side was down to a number of factors that all came together at one moment and were the driving forces behind their success that resulted in 2 Champions League crows and three straight La Liga titles, among lots of other accolades.

“As a coach, it’s over (a Barca), because I am not the same, nor do they even look at me in the same way,” commented Guardiola. “(I) was at a fantastic age in which I was taking on the world and we took it on, with some incredible players, a young president Joan (Laporta). It was a generation of brutal players and the best players in the world. The stars aligned.

When he was asked if he could potentially take up the highest position in the Barcelona boardroom, Guardiola commented that you can only be good in a handful of things. With coaching being his specialty, the former Barcelona boss prefers to stick to what he does best.

“President? No, I am a coach and I am good at what I do, you can’t be everything,” said the 47-year-old manager. “When I stop coaching, you will find me playing golf.”

Wherever Guardiola went, success followed

Guardiola joined Man City in the summer of 2016 and it took him two seasons to lift his first Premier League title. But before he signed for the Etihad side, the Catalan manager led Bayern Munich to three straight Bundesliga plaques between 2013 and 2016, and in process clinched loads of other trophies.

But Guardiola’s most successful managerial time was with boyhood club Barcelona where he won 14 trophies in merely 4 years. He went from managing Barcelona’s B team (the reserve side) in Segunda Division one season, to becoming the boss of the senior team the following campaign being announced as the manager in the summer of 2008.

He was initially met with criticism and scrutiny from the media and online sportsbooks in Spain, but after a short testing period Guardiola effectively transformed the Catalans into a real powerhouse. They went on to win every single competition that they entered in his first season at the club, thus clinching the historic “sextuple season” that includes La Liga, Champions League, Copa del Rey, Spanish Super Cup, UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup.

This alone cemented then young 38-year-old’s status as a serious manager, but much more success followed as Barcelona won another 2 Spanish league title and one more Champions League trophy in 2011 against Man United – a repeat of the 2009 final in Rome.