Discussion: Txiki Begiristain (2014/15)

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Damocles

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Two down, one to go? No sooner had Txiki Begiristain been confirmed as Manchester City's director of football than the inevitable question began to be asked and once they started they did not stop. Begiristain's statement said he was looking forward to working with Roberto Mancini, which it had to say of course, but it seemed everybody wanted to know the same thing: does this mean Pep Guardiola is coming too?

Aitor 'Txiki' Begiristain was the sporting director who turned to Pep Guardiola when Barcelona sacked Frank Rijkaard at the end of the 2008 season. He travelled to see José Mourinho and decided the Portuguese was too much of a fire-starter to entrust with the job. The decision seems logical now: Guardiola became the most successful coach in Barcelona's history, winning a treble in his first season. At the time the decision was a brave and risky one.

Now everyone wants Guardiola; back then, few did. Begiristain was one of them. Guardiola won the European Cup. Rijkaard, the first coach to work under Begiristain, had won one too. Joan Laporta, the Barcelona president, once said: "Bringing in Txiki was the best decision I ever made." Under him, Barcelona won two European Cups and five league titles in seven years. When he came in with Laporta in 2003, Barcelona had gone four years without a trophy and were lurching from crisis to crisis.

Yet Barcelona had begun a slide under Rijkaard and even before the 2007-08 season was finished Begiristain had determined a change was needed, even as some on the board resisted. The decision may even have come late, but it did finally come. Begiristain said Rijkaard had lost control of the dressing room. There was, though, no guarantee that Guardiola would wrest it back again, still less that he would prove successful. He had only been a coach for one season: with Barcelona B.

But Begiristain had faith in Guardiola. He formed part of the Johan Cruyff-led dream team alongside Guardiola that won the 1992 European Cup and they shared an approach. Cruyff was Laporta's mentor; Begiristain was Cruyff's suggestion.

Begiristain is a Basque who had been signed from Real Sociedad and claims to have learnt Catalan sitting in Barcelona's traffic jams, repeating everything he heard on the radio. Funny, chatty, likeable and smart, Cruyff described him as a "clever" player. So clever, Cruyff's No2 Charly Rexach claimed, that in the pouring rain and mud of Atoxa, he'd leave the pitch with hardly a stain on him.

As sporting director he insisted on the need for style and substance. Full-backs had to be attacking and at least one of the central defenders must be capable of bringing the ball out from the back – of being a player as well as a protector. Although there were question marks about some of his signings - Maxi López and Alexandr Hleb among them – the decision to go for Guardiola has huge symbolic significance. It would have been easier to chose Mourinho. Indeed, as Graham Hunter explains in his book Barça, Guardiola himself told him just that.

Begiristain had travelled to Lisbon with two directors, Marc Ingla and Ferran Soriano, to see Mourinho. The presentation was impressive but Begiristain, Soriano and Ingla were not keen; there was something about his personality that did not fit. They would win, sure, but it was not enough simply to win. Guardiola was not just the right manager, he was the right man. When they returned, the message was unanimous: it has got to be Guardiola. Soriano and Begiristain went to get him.

Cant find a decent profile on him

Joined October 2012

2013 January

In:
n/a

Out:
Balotelli £19m

Net Spend:

-£19m

2013/2014:
In:
Fernandinho £30m
Jovetic £22m
Negredo £20m
Navas £14.9m
Demichelis £4.2m
Faour Undisclosed

Out:
Carlos Tevez £12m
Suarez Undisclosed
Helan Undisclosed
Razak Undisclosed

Released:
Bridge
Maicon
Santa Cruz
K. Toure
McGivern
Bunn
Elabdellaoui

Net Spend:

£79m

Note: Our accounts listed a post-balance sheet transaction value for these transfers as £84.1m which would include all agent/signing costs so these fees are probably exaggerated or structured deals.

2014/2015

City were under Financial Fair Play Restrictions for this window

In:
Mangala £32m
Bony £25m (rising to £28m)
Fernando £12m
Caballero £4.4m (rising to £6m)
Zuculini £3m
Sagna Free
Lampard Free

Out:
Garcia £13m
Rodwell £10.25m (rising to £13.25m)
Nastasic Undisclosed - rumoured to be £7m
Huws Undisclosed - rumoured to be £2.5m
Barry £2m

Released:
Lescott
Pantilimon
Wabara
Agyiri
Kennedy
Swan

Net Spend:

£49m

Man City's limit during this year was £49m

Total Net Spend To Date: £109m

Fees are sourced. I'll do contracts next
 
I think Mangala in and Nastasic out will what people will judge him on of the team continues to play as badly as it has been.

Nothing signing Messi won't sort out!

Jury is still in my opinion
 
This is a big summer for Txiki, and he'll be judged on that side of his job next season, but the other side of acadamies and long term direction of our football will take at least 2 or 3 years before they can be properly judged. The thing is Khaldoun and the Sheik will see the day to day developments and know the summer plans, if they had doubts they would act immediately , so I,m confident things will turn out the way we,d all want, just need patience and to hold our nerve.
 
This summer will be huge for Txiki. With a squad full of aging stars City need quality young players in positions all over the pitch. He has a big task ahead of him to start transitioning this team to a new younger core. Not signing Barkley would be a good start though.
 
Sitka said:
This summer will be huge for Txiki. With a squad full of aging stars City need quality young players in positions all over the pitch. He has a big task ahead of him to start transitioning this team to a new younger core. Not signing Barkley would be a good start though.

Signing, signing, signing..that's all everyone here talks about. Why can't we be brave enough to throw in some of our youngsters into the first. Harry Kane, Mason, Bentaleb, Coquelin, Ibe, Barkley, Clyne etc are all products of the academy of their various teams. Lopes is far better than Navas - People talk about his speed but what good is speed if it doens't add up to anything at the end ? Players like Isco and Debruyne aren't as fast as Navas but we all know who we would go for, Fofana can't do worse than Fernando, Denayer seems ready etc Why do we need to spend huge every summer? If anything we need a HUGE summer clear out.
 
You could argue not too many of his signings have worked out. Our side has been based around Zabaleta, Kompany, Silva, Yaya Toure and Aguero in recent years and I don't see the likes of Fernandinho or Mangala stepping up to replace them one day. It's not just about new arrivals either. They talked about developing from within yet barely any player has been given the chance.
 
i♥city! said:
Sitka said:
This summer will be huge for Txiki. With a squad full of aging stars City need quality young players in positions all over the pitch. He has a big task ahead of him to start transitioning this team to a new younger core. Not signing Barkley would be a good start though.

Signing, signing, signing..that's all everyone here talks about. Why can't we be brave enough to throw in some of our youngsters into the first. Harry Kane, Mason, Bentaleb, Coquelin, Ibe, Barkley, Clyne etc are all products of the academy of their various teams. Lopes is far better than Navas - People talk about his speed but what good is speed if it doens't add up to anything at the end ? Players like Isco and Debruyne aren't as fast as Navas but we all know who we would go for, Fofana can't do worse than Fernando, Denayer seems ready etc Why do we need to spend huge every summer? If anything we need a HUGE summer clear out.

Most of the youngsters are still too young to meaningfully contribute to the first team. I think a lot of the academy players are still a year or 2 away from the first team. Lopes and Denayer look like the prospects most likely to make the jump to the 1st team and I hope they do this summer but going from Celtic or Lille to City competing for the CL is a huge step. In addition to the academy, City will need some good young signings to help fill the squad.
 
Our squad was in dire need of a quality winger and he decided to spend only £15 million to address this issue, you get a squad player for that amount not a world beater. Anyway, a blast from the past:

"He(Jesus) is an absolute gift for us. He goes past people and stretches teams. He will give us something we don't have(dwarfness?)."
 
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