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The Barcelona Legacy

Guardiola, Mourinho and the Fight For Football's Soul

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The Barcelona Legacy

By: Jonathan Wilson
Narrated by: Charlie Anson
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About this listen

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
Coaching Football (Soccer) Sports History Football Portugal
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What listeners say about The Barcelona Legacy

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good book

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

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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

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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absolutley brilliant

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

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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

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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!

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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.

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2 people found this helpful