Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview
  • The Barcelona Legacy

  • Guardiola, Mourinho and the Fight For Football's Soul
  • By: Jonathan Wilson
  • Narrated by: Charlie Anson
  • Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (285 ratings)

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Barcelona Legacy

By: Jonathan Wilson
Narrated by: Charlie Anson
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £25.99

Buy Now for £25.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

Manchester, 2018: Pep Guardiola and José Mourinho lead their teams out to face each other in the 175th Manchester derby. They are first and second in the Premier League, but today only one man can come out on top. It is merely the latest instalment in a rivalry that has contested titles, traded insults and crossed a continent but which can be traced back to a friendship that began almost 25 years ago.

Barcelona, late '90s: Johan Cruyff's Dream Team is disintegrating, and the revolutionary manager has departed, but what will come next will transform the future of football. Cruyff's style has changed the game and given birth to a generation of thinkers: men like Ronald Koeman, Luis Enrique, Laurent Blanc, Frank de Boer, Louis van Gaal, and Cruyff's club captain, Pep Guardiola, and a young translator, José Mourinho.

The Barcelona Legacy is an audiobook in part about tactics, about how the theories that underpin the modern game were forged by Cruyff and his successors, but also about the people and personalities who gathered at the Camp Nou for what was effectively the greatest coaching seminar in history, about their friendships and rivalries and, in one case, an apocalyptic falling out that continues to shape the game today.

©2018 Jonathan Wilson (P)2018 Bonnier Publishing
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Pep Guardiola cover art
Quiet Leadership cover art
Expected Goals cover art
Ten Hag cover art
The Premier League's Worst Ever Players cover art
The Price of Football, Second Edition cover art
Revolution cover art
Alex Ferguson: cover art
Intensity cover art
The Quality of Madness cover art
Pep Guardiola cover art
The Damned Utd cover art
100 Years of Leeds United cover art
Spain cover art
Barca cover art
5000-1: The Leicester City Story cover art

What listeners say about The Barcelona Legacy

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    179
  • 4 Stars
    86
  • 3 Stars
    18
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    132
  • 4 Stars
    78
  • 3 Stars
    22
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    142
  • 4 Stars
    74
  • 3 Stars
    17
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

good book

liked it but would be nice to have a famous manager or footballer telling the story who were at barca

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

superb as ever from Jonathan Wilson

Excellent book, both in the technical detail and the anecdotes. Nothing better than hearing about Dutch characters in football

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Football Purity

Excellently biassed book if you want your football purist ego petted. Which I did and thoroughly enjoyed it through out. Not enough credit given to Enrique's Treble side.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

my favourite audiobook

this audiobook is the benchmark I hold all others to. I absolutely loved it. fascinating story, very well researched and written, with fantastic quotes and background that will leave you wanting more.

I was slightly disappointed the great man himself wasn't performing the book here, although Charlie Anson is very good and a solid professional.

kudos

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Interesting Book, Dodgy Pronunciations

The book is interesting and well-written, but there are a lot of pronunciation errors by the narrator. It's surprising they didn't have someone check this.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant

Like all the books Jonathan Wilson I have read or listened to this book is brilliant.

In comparison to Hunter's "Barca", which i have recently read, this a so much better.

The only negative is the narrator kept using the Spanish pronunciation of Jose, rather than the Portuguese one. Similarly mispronouncing many other household names like Sacchi with a hard "ch". But it's a minor point and doesn't detract from the the book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

absolutley brilliant

fantastic book again, so much detail covering a number of coaches and different football generations

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Well read reflection on the oragins of Barcelona

The origins of the philosophy and how it was developed and influences various coaches. The contrast to the opposition but nothing to heaving with the bulk of the book based in the last 20 years or so.
Didn't find this dull or a drag at all with strong characters and options.
Realy enjoyed it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great listen

Very enjoyable and revealing insight into the origins of modern football at the highest level. Beautiful game or whatever gets results, or both…we’ll never agree!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Dismiss Barcelona's legacy at your own bereavement

Barcelona's legacy transcends the confines of Nou Camp and Catalonia. It is Europe's gift to the footballing world. I'm not even referring to the Cruffyian methodology, but rather the sheer number of ideologues, thinkers and tacticians the club churns constantly. It is the equivalent of Plato's Academy in footballing sense, where those who come in learn the nature of the game only to then go on their own path and apply their ideals to the game. From the Godfather of this footballing culture; Rinus Michels to his disciples; Van Gaal and Cruyff and then more and more, imagine a tree diagram that keeps expanding, it is truly intriguing to see how each then sets up his own path, and either converge to the Barcelona philosophy (Guardiola) or diverge from them (Mourinho).

Many have already stated and I feel I need to keep emphasising that this doesn't just give a historical context on Mes Que Un Club, instead how Mes Que Un Club has touched the European world more than any other club. Madrid are undoubtedly the greater and bigger club objectively, however its sole focus is on itself, Barcelona's soul focuses on exporting its ideas via its students. Which explains why albeit Madrid consistently maintain high standards, Barcelona's legacy is greater as it sets improbable standards. I know which I would be more proud of.

Amazing book, Jonathan Wilson is a genius in football and truly knows what he is talking about. Explains why I love his podcast; The Blizzard, which is so different from all the other football podcasts.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful