round thoughts | on the beautiful game

In Barcelona, Pep Guardiola and Tito Vilanova are great examples of “Cruyff disciples” who have taken over the club with others like them – Andoni Zubizarreta (sporting director), Guillermo Amor (technical director of football training), Eusebio Sacristan (Barcelona B
coach), Juan Carlos Unzue (goalkeepers’ manager) and more.

Barcelona have a strong club culture that helps nurture not only the next batch of players, but also the next batch of coaches and administrative staff. The current culture at the club ensures that the “Barcelona method” will keep on running for years to come.

The success and stability that the club has shown in recent years shows that it will take a very stupid president to break the current system.

Barcelona and Liverpool, however, are not the only examples for the success of promoting from within. Fabio Capello was an in-house promotion, and he made Arrigo Sacchi‘s Milan even better. Walter Smith was an assistant-turned-manager at Glasgow Rangers, and led
them to 7 straight championships and a UEFA Champions League semi-final. Vicente del Bosque was a great servant for Real Madrid for 14 years before becoming one of the club’s most impressive managers ever. While José Mourinho left Chelsea with most of his staff,
Steve Clarke didn’t, and he was instrumental in keeping The Special One’s ethos in Stamford Bridge.

Promoting from within is a great way to stabilise the boat and continue “the good work”.  “Bill Shankly was the manager when I came through as a 15-year-old, but the managers I’d have later down the line were already there at Anfield with Shanks”, explained Tommy
Smith, a Liverpool legend of four titles and two European Cups over 16 years.

“Shanks was the boss, he made the decisions, but there were others like Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and others who were there to support him. But they also learned from him and made sure everything carried on. Shanks was such a big figure that it could have been easy for
us to lose our way when he decided to pack it in, but Bob Paisley came in and we just carried on. We kept on winning leagues and cups”.

Promoting from within also saves money, as a new coach will always want new players.

Also, when new managers come in, they think that you need to implement change for things to improve even when it’s not necessarily so. A coach that has already worked with the squad knows better about the strengths and weaknesses of the club.

We’ll finish with Arsenal. Arsène Wenger‘s legacy is already great, but handing over the first team to someone from within will only serve to improve it. In that sense, a certain Steve Bould is the perfect candidate to be Wenger’s successor.

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