Ernesto Valverde is the new manager of FC Barcelona

[tarzanontoast]

The other question is… if Barcelona get Tuchel (or if he leaves Dortmund regardless), does that mean Dortmund will be following down their recent Mainz recruitment strategy? 

Klopp, Tuchel… Martin Schmidt?

[SirBalon]

If Tuchel got the job then that would be the biggest surprise ever even more than when Guardiola got the position.  Not because Tuchel isn't a very good coach, but because it doesn't go with how the club have done things throughout their history in this sense.  Even Mourinho (a major winner at the time) was turned down some years back and Pep was chosen.

[nfb_10]

This morning I heard a lot of worrying rumours about Tuchel. Apparently a German tabloid has reported that he's basically done a Mourinho at Dortmund, he's had bust ups with a lot of the squad, he and the head scout don't see eye to eye anymore, he's fallen out with the higher ups at the club and some players have issued an "us or him" ultimatum.

Of course the validity of these reports are in question, but if they are true, it is worrying if we do decide to get him. 

[nfb_10]

Ernesto Valverde it will be, then. @SirBalon @The Rebel CRS

Not bad. We'll play some great football under him, and he knows the league very well too, as well as having some knowledge of the club and the Cruyff philosophy. I hope things go well with him at the helm.

[Stan]

Valverde leaves Bilbao. Next Barca coach?

 

[Honey Honey]

Koeman would be an odd appointment. I understand promoting from within but I don't understand hiring someone who has recently managed Southampton and Everton just because he once played for Barcelona and won the Spanish cup 10 years ago.

It's a bit like Man Utd hiring Steve Bruce 

[Toony]

5 minutes ago, HoneyNUFC said:

Koeman would be an odd appointment. I understand promoting from within but I don't understand hiring someone who has recently managed Southampton and Everton just because he once played for Barcelona and won the Spanish cup 10 years ago.

It's a bit like Man Utd hiring Steve Bruce 

Koeman is a better manager than Bruce though

[Carnivore Chris]

4 minutes ago, HoneyNUFC said:

Koeman would be an odd appointment. I understand promoting from within but I don't understand hiring someone who has recently managed Southampton and Everton just because he once played for Barcelona and won the Spanish cup 10 years ago.

It's a bit like Man Utd hiring Steve Bruce 

But Guardiola, a man who had only ever managed a B team before and Enrique, a man who had only managed Celta, after failure at Roma, weren't "odd appointments" in this regard themselves?

 

 

[Honey Honey]

Just now, Toony said:

Koeman is a better manager than Bruce though

All relative. Man Utd aren't Barcelona, they're a upper mid table club.

[Honey Honey]

1 minute ago, The Rebel CRS said:

But Guardiola, a man who had only ever managed a B team before and Enrique, a man who had only managed Celta, after failure at Roma, weren't "odd appointments" in this regard themselves?

 

 

Even I could win what Luis Enrique did, surely what is needed is a new powerful dynasty rather than appointing someone like me.

[SirBalon]

The reasons for Ronald Koeman being eternally connected are obvious really because he's a Barça legend and was there for a considerable amount of time.  He's also worked for the club in the past and has been constantly connected to Barça since he departed as a player.  Plus he's Dutch which at FC Barcelona is also an important factor due to the close ties the club (and Spanish football in general) have with that country's football.

The only factor I would put on Koeman for him (right now) to be questioned is his brand of football which has changed and become more pragmatic in the last few years, more so this season. But maybe this has to do with what he's had at hand where he's been coaching and he's just done what he's needed to do.

[nfb_10]

It's more or less confirmed to be Valverde then. With him leaving Bilbao and with Pique opting to talk publicly about him today, too.

Like I said, he wasn't my first choice and I'm still not 100% sold on him, but while he is here, if it really is him, I will back him 100%, I will be patient and I hope he can get us firmly back on track. 

[Cure]

Valverde set to be confirmed shortly.

[SirBalon]

 

[Batard]

Wow. This I was not expecting

 

[nfb_10]

It's a good appointment, admittedly it wasn't my first choice, but I'm pleased. A coach who knows our style and philosophy as he was a member of the Cruyff dream team, and he has great coaching experience in the league as well. 

Looking forward to next season under him, welcome coach! 

 

[SirBalon]

There was a certain amount of time where it looked as if it would be Luis Enrique's number two Juan Carlos Unzué who would  be the chosen one. But Valverde always seemed to be a strong candidate as he has been in other years when Barcelona have been searching for a new head coach.

His character or better said, personality, is perfect for the job and has a lot of experience in La Liga with also adding the fact he was part of the Cruyff "Dream Team".

It's definitely going to be interesting to see what he provides.

[Stan]

[Paulinho Dybala]

Valverde's played for FC Barcelona, sure, but does he really have that all important "Barca DNA" when it comes to coaching? "Tiki Taka" and "Total Football"?

All successful Barca managers to date have had that requisite essential Barca DNA and default/signature Barca way of playing.

Wonder if Real Sociedad's Eusebio (formerly of Cryuff's Dream Team) would have been a better appointment as the new manager of Barca. Not sure why Eusebio wasn't discussed more often/considered as a potential new Barca coach.

[Paulinho Dybala]

I'd be very intrigued to see how Guus Hiddink would do in a second spell at Barca.

Pity we can't lure Jupp Heynckes out of retirement :-) 

Neither of them have DNA anyway (though it must be said that Heynckes' treble winning season saw Bayern play a "kinda sorta tiki-taka on steroids). They had the players to do it back then and Muller was at his prime.

Wonder who would have won it all in a winner-take-all-match? The current 2016-2017 Real Madrid team or that 2012-2013 Bayern squad?

This Real Madrid team just seems to be able to "get it done." 

Of course, ALL managers are mere stopgaps until Xavi comes home!! He's always been the heart and soul of Barca.

Imagine Dani Alves as Assistant Coach...lol!

[Spike]

The next person to mention 'Barca DNA' dies.

[Cicero]

Barsa DNA

[Guest]

I must admit for a generally annoying fanbase, we've got an excellent bunch of Barcelona fans on this board. 

[SirBalon]

2 hours ago, Luis Suarez said:

Not sure why Eusebio wasn't discussed more often/considered as a potential new Barca coach.

He wasn't discussed properly (although he was mentioned a few times) because Eusebio disassociated himself from being a candidate very early on when Luis Enrique announced he'd be stepping down at the end of the season.

A week after Luis Enrique said he wouldn't be carrying on, Eusebio signed an extension at La Real.  Eusebio was head Barça 'B' coach a few years back and got very upset at being sacked when the side were relegated.  The truth is that Barcelona 'B' coaches in the past haven't tended to be sacked because of relegations (not like another club usually does) because it's understood that they're kids playing in a rough division of men in general.

Ernesto Valverde was always the obvious choice to get the job and he'd been a strong candidate in the past three times Barcelona have had to look for a coach.

[SirBalon]

The day Cruyff gave Valverde his blessing

 

It was always a known fact Johan Cruyff had a weak spot for Ernesto Valverde, who he coached between 1988 and 1990.  Cruyff was impacted with Valverde's football intelligence which was something Cruyff valued most of all from a footballer, the passion Valverde felt for the game and his eagerness to learn.  It's not strange to observe over the years that so many past players Cruyff has been in some way connected to have ended up being coaches.

10 years ago when Ernesto Valverde was head coach at RCD Espanyol, Johan Cruyff was asked in an interview for Catalan regional tv station TV3 what he thought about the Basque coach he had once had in his team.  The main point of the question was if Cruyff could see Valverde one day coaching Barça.

"You always have to look at things in their own measure" Cruyff responded... "His (Valverde) work is more than just excellent because if you observe how his Espanyol play it takes you back to the era when I was coaching Barcelona.  The basis of their game is exactly the same one.  I love how both he and Rijkaard have a brand of football that makes you enjoy the game.  It's a pleasure to watch both of their teams. That's what football is for."

On another occasion in 2012 Cruyff once again gave his opinion on Valverde when the Basque coach signed for Valencia CF.

"It's a great decision by Valencia to sign Valverde.  When he was a player he was very intelligent and always transmitted his interest for football and for learning.  He's one of the coaches to watch and has a promising future ahead of him in my opinion."

In the book by the journalist Miguel Rico on Cruyff 'My footballers and me', there's a passage on an interesting quote by Cruyff about Valverde from the 90s.

"I have a great regard for Valverde as a player and as a person, but he never achieved to manage to play in a relaxed manner.  Valverde would put the brakes on his own football and not give what I knew he could give, give to me what I had seen in him when I signed him.  It was when he went to Athletic Bilbao where we all saw how fantastic a player he was and everything I wanted from him at Barça."

"Valverde was one of my biggest frustrations at Barcelona.  He gave us some great games but I always knew he could give much much more because of his vision of the game and his intelligence which is what I most value in a footballer.  I don't like to be telling players where to go on the pitch and to recover their positions.  I want to see them understand all of this themselves because then you have football.  All of this he achieved at Athletic but could've also given it to us which frustrated me."