Why Pep Guardiola will never manage Chelsea

Let’s add a sub-clause to that headline, this piece should be titled ‘why Pep Guardiola will never manage Chelsea…while Roman Abramovich owns the club’.

Barcelona and Chelsea, as clubs, are worlds apart in terms of their philosophy. Barcelona’s ‘mas que un club’ motto is propped up by the organic grooming of La Masia and the democratic conditions under which the club is run. Barcelona is run by the people and for the people.

Chelsea is owned by Roman Abramovich. And Roman Abramovich knows best.

Although quite obviously he doesn’t, because he’s turned what should be the dream job of running an extremely affluent club into a career-derailing nightmare.

If a manager succeeds in one environment, the chances are that he recognises that the conditions around him have contributed to his success – in short, he knows how he works best.

For what it’s worth, this site’s philosophy on Pep Guardiola is that he’s not quite worth the bluster that accompanies him. He’s done a marvellous job at Barcelona, and his achievements are not in any way to be derided, but assuming that he could be plugged in at another club to replicate that success is wrong. He succeeded in Catalonia because he was born and raised on Barcelona’s philosophies – he was an icon to the players he was coaching, and knew the culture that they’d been bred on backwards. Plus of course, he was dealt a pretty reasonable hand in terms of his playing staff.

By walking away on Friday, Guardiola secured his legacy – it’s always better to depart when times are good than be pushed when they’re not. Guardiola knows this, and he’ll also be aware that no manager in football has higher stock than he does right now.

If he stays away from the game for a year, his value will increase yet further.

So with that all in mind, why on earth would he risk his legacy to take the Chelsea job? Given the jarring contrast in styles between Chelsea and Barcelona across the two legs of their semi-final, it’s fair to say that significant changes would have to be made at Stamford Bridge for that to become ‘his’ team. And that would be the Andre Villas-Boas problem all over again; how do you remodel a side without bruising egos and while at the same time sustaining the required level of success?

There may very well be an answer to that question, but why would Guardiola put his reputation on the line in pursuit of its answer?

There are too many potential negatives about being Chelsea manager, and not enough of an upside. If you win a title, that’s expected, and even if you capture the European Cup, you’d only be quenching Abramovich’s thirst for success temporarily. Fail at any of those? Well then you carry a black mark with you throughout the rest of your management career – forever asterisked with ‘yeah, but he couldn’t hack the Premier League’. Plus of course, there’s the risk of carrying the can for mistakes made outside of a manager’s pay-grade. Have a chat with Carlo Ancelotti, he’ll tell you about that…

Guardiola going to Chelsea has always been a two-plus-two logic, but they’re just not meant for each other – and the ex-Barcelona manager is wise enough to know that.

Norwich to beat Liverpool at Carrow Road – a massive 10/3.
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