Here’s another topic from a very interesting brief article superstar Thierry Henry wrote about Pep Guardiola’s key coaching principles. Henry played under Guardiola at FC Barcelona.
Guardiola is an absolute professional on and off the field and demands the same from every one of his players.
If one guy is not in sync with the rest of the group, he won’t stand for it.
Arrive late for training and the session has already started, you don’t train.
He banned us from watching the F1 or tennis in Barcelona because he didn’t want us sitting in the sun for hours.
We weren’t allowed out after midnight and he controlled everything we ate and drank.
If I had some commercial commitments, my agent would have to email Pep for his permission. He never said no but he just wanted to know what we were up to.
It sounds like he was an absolute control freak but that was never the case.
He simply gave us sensible guidelines and let everyone know what the consequences would be of not following his rules.
You’d have to be stupid to ignore his demands because they made us all better players.
NorCal Soccer Dad 