It's often said that the foundations of Barcelona's success under Pep Guardiola were laid in 1971 when the club appointed Rinus Michels. He arrived in Catalonia shortly after leading Ajax to their first European Cup with a 2-0 victory over Panathinaikos at Wembley. No one had ever won the trophy in the way his team had, playing under the tenets of a new philosophy: Total Football.
Barcelona asked Michels if he could replicate it at the Camp Nou. There was scepticism. Ajax was intrinsic to Michels. He had come through its academy, played for the club throughout his on-field career, later becoming its coach and from then oversaw and benefited from the development of one of the finest generations of players the game had ever seen. Many wondered if he could operate outside these conditions, without the same players.
It's worth reflecting on that time again principally because following Guardiola's decision to end to his sabbatical in New York this summer to replace the retiring Jupp Heynckes as coach of Bayern Munich next season, he is facing almost the same line of questioning as Michels did more than four decades ago.
What really captivates the imagination is precisely how much of what Guardiola achieved at Barcelona is transferable elsewhere. Because not all of it will be, most notably, the shared cultural identity and experience, the trust he had with his Barcelona players, the respect his past at the club commanded and how all of this led to the formation of a bond that was so organic and so unique that it cannot for one minute be underestimated as one of the main reasons behind their success.
It will be one thing applying the same ideas at Bayern as at Barcelona, but establishing the same level of understanding promises to be another altogether. The problem Michels initially encountered, as outlined in his book "Teambuilding," was "everyone expected Barcelona to play like Ajax did. They did not realise that such a team building process takes years to develop."
You get the impression that Guardiola has, to some extent, understood this. He has signed a three-year deal with Bayern rather than the 12-month rolling contract he had at Barcelona. By sorting out his future in advance, has availed himself of time to prepare for the job, learn the language, study up on Bayern, watch the current team and its players, speak to them in private, form his own opinion of them and decide what needs to be done.
The transition, according to prevailing wisdom, will be relatively smooth from one FCB to another. Bayern and Barcelona have certain things in common in how they're run and structured as clubs and how they play as teams. From that point of view, Guardiola's decision makes considerable sense.
Much has been made of how Bayern are second only to Barcelona in the possession-and-pass-completion ratings across Europe's top five leagues this season, to say nothing of how Louis van Gaal - the former Ajax and Barcelona coach who mentored Pep - supposedly laid a lot of the groundwork for him during a spell at Bayern between 2009 and 2011.
That's all well and good of course, ideal you might think, but it doesn't necessarily follow that Guardiola will take Bayern to the rare if unprecedented levels his Barcelona reached. Time to reflect on Michels again.
He replaced Vic Buckingham at Barcelona just as he had at Ajax in 1965. And just as Guardiola should benefit from van Gaal and Heynckes' legacy in terms of possession and pressing, he inherited a team that was similar to his previous one, at least in terms of set-up if not entirely in style. "... Because Barcelona had played with typical out-side forwards under the guidance of the English coach Vic Buckingham, the choice for the 4-3-3 system was not too difficult to make," Michels wrote.
Still, Michels, taking charge of a team that had finished level on points with champions Valencia the season beforehand - missing out on the title only because of an inferior head-to-head record - initially found it hard at Barcelona to reproduce the beautiful football he'd developed at Ajax.
Ten league games into his first campaign, Barcelona had lost five, drawn three and won only twice. They were in the relegation zone, out of the Cup Winners' Cup after losing a quarterfinal to Steaua Bucharest and later exited the Copa del Rey at the same stage.
Although Barcelona rallied to finish third, the season and their standard of play - regardless of the Fairs Cup they won in a playoff against Leeds United - was a disappointment. Michels' second season witnessed an improvement in position - Barcelona were runners-up to Atletico - yet the promise of Total Football was still yet to be fulfilled. Far from setting La Liga alight, they scored only 41 goals in 34 league games.
"It was harder to find the right player for the right position," Michels admitted. "After a process of many years at Ajax to find the correct balance, it was more difficult than expected to achieve this at Barcelona. We succeeded defensively, however, the individual qualities were disappointing concerning the build-up and the attack."
One assumes this will preoccupy Guardiola as well, because at Bayern he will not have Xavi, Andres Iniesta and most significant of all, Lionel Messi. How will he fare without them?
It bears remembering that it was only when Barcelona signed Johan Cruyff in 1973, reuniting Michels with his Ajax protege, that the Camp Nou began to see something resembling Total Football. A 14-year wait for a La Liga title was ended that season, as Barcelona won the championship by 10 points playing some brilliant football and scoring 75 goals. Cruyff was the difference. Without him, they were a different team, as you would suspect today's Barcelona and Guardiola team would be in Messi's absence.
It's often the case that managers looking to get their message across will bring in players who know their philosophy, chapter and verse. For instance, van Gaal recruited his former Ajax players Michael Reiziger and Winston Bogarde in his first season at Barcelona in 1997-98, then the de Boer twins and Patrick Kluivert in his second, not to mention fellow Dutchmen Philip Cocu and Bolo Zenden.
As a result, he was able to bring his influence to bear and implement his ideas much quicker. It was a fast track to success. Barcelona won La Liga back-to-back, although one perhaps wouldn't argue that they were ever as fluent or as good as van Gaal's first and perhaps only great side, Champions League winner Ajax in 1995.
Still, buying one outstanding player or a small selection - maybe one, two or three of those - who understand your system and can educate new teammates, could well be a model Guardiola follows or at least considers at Bayern, even if he might be reluctant to take players away from his former club.
Give or take a few modifications, Michels and van Gaal essentially share the same philosophy, the origins of which can be found in Ajax. Yet, as explained above, they took two different approaches to its implementation at Barcelona. It will be interesting to see which one, if any, Guardiola takes at Bayern.
Wenger you schmuck.
. I do fear this might turn into another Young situation.
