interview

Perhaps, someday, Pere Guardiola will likely be his huge brother’s boss. “Sure, I all the time say ‘the day if you get bored, you may come and coach Girona!’” Guardiola says, laughing.

His brother, after all, is . And Pere – pronounced Pera – is the president of the board of Girona, the Catalan membership who’ve been reworked lately and now face within the Champions League.

The 48-year-old, 5 years Pep’s junior, is joking. However Girona are a gorgeous proposition and have already got a much-coveted coach in Míchel. They’ve been one thing of a fairy story, ending third in La Liga final season forward of Atlético Madrid and simply 4 factors behind Barcelona in what was solely their second season again within the prime division. With a group costing simply £29 million, their goal had been survival.

“In life, you by no means know however I don’t assume it’s going to occur!” Pere says of using Pep. “However Girona is an excellent place for soccer. The climate is nice. The area is sweet. The membership itself has a strain as a result of we dwell 24-hour soccer, however the setting and the historical past there may be not that strain like with huge golf equipment.

“However we’re beginning to have historical past and we’re beginning to put strain as a result of we all know the extent we need to attain and if we’re not doing that we have to query ourselves. Meaning this setting could be very good for the lovers of soccer and there may be all the time an opportunity for anybody to someday come to Girona and play for Girona or coach Girona. As a result of the setting is calm.”

Donny van de Beek’s first LALIGA objective 🇳🇱

The Girona midfielder pulls one again for his aspect with the assistance of a deflection 🙌

Unsurprisingly, the brothers, who grew up in Santpedor, a small city between Girona and Barcelona, have a shared philosophy. As a participant, Pere by no means reached the heights of Pep. He was a No10 within the decrease leagues, combining a profession with Nike earlier than retiring early. However he’s equally passionate in regards to the recreation and the way it needs to be performed.

“OK, ultimately, this can be a bit Barca philosophy, of Cruyff,” he says of Girona. “Issues don’t occur as a result of they simply occur. Issues don’t simply go the best way you assume as a result of you may have higher abilities. Issues occur as a result of there’s a form of sample – understanding that when you’ve got a participant higher than the opponent then you’ll have extra probabilities. We must always always remember it’s in regards to the gamers.

“I grew up consuming this daily. The coach and sporting director and construction of the membership is essential however we’d like good gamers. That doesn’t imply costly gamers, however gamers who can slot in. And we assist them to be higher.

“As a result of if we don’t play good soccer it’s like throwing a coin within the air. Sooner or later you may win; someday you may lose however more often than not you’re going to battle. Attempting to play good soccer, to manage all of the departments on the pitch, goes to deliver you nearer to the win.”

Given the passionate means he talks, it’s value asking if Pere ever considered going into teaching reasonably than enterprise and, additionally, soccer company – one thing he has scaled again however nonetheless helps his brother with.

“I used to be good at getting individuals collectively, making issues occur, getting them to agree,” Guardiola explains. “I realised after I was rising up that I might do that. I used to be good at getting the precise aspect to agree with the left aspect and I loved it and did OK.

“I all the time wish to be within the kitchen, the place every little thing is cooked: ‘How are we going to do that? Why are we going to do that? Which means? OK, we’d like this cash. So, how are we going to lift this cash? After which after we get it, who’re we going to get to run it?’

“I used to be with Nike for 10, 12 years and began by getting younger gamers to put on Nike boots. I signed Andrés Iniesta when he was 14, I signed Fernando Torres when he was 14. I grew up with them and ended up managing Ronaldo Nazário’s and Ronaldinho’s careers. One was in Madrid and the opposite was in Barcelona. Each week, it was Monday, Tuesday in Madrid, Wednesday, Thursday in Barcelona, as a result of I used to be managing each of them. All of this expertise helped me. Then I began my very own firm as an agent and it widened my information of enterprise, soccer and managing gamers. Once I acquired to Girona I had scope that positively helped me to know what’s happening, what brokers are pondering, what gamers are pondering. Now this is likely one of the issues I’ve achieved that I like essentially the most.”

Guardiola’s involvement with Girona began in 2015 after they had been at risk of going out of enterprise. “I used to be not searching for a membership in any respect. At the moment, I used to be working with soccer gamers as an agent after which the sports activities director [Quique Cárcel], who’s a pal and somebody I suggested, got here and mentioned ‘if some day you consider investing in a membership, then Girona could be good’.

“Girona had by no means actually labored out. All the time issues. Second division, third division and totally different teams preventing. It was huge by way of historical past, by way of the area, by way of potential however nobody on the time might actually see that. There was a momentum that wanted to be fastened.

“I began falling in love. Quite than being on one aspect of the trade, right here was an opportunity to be on the opposite aspect and run a membership in a great way. It clicked and I began to assume ‘why not do that?’”

So, Guardiola purchased Girona, who solely entered the second division in 2008 after a 49-year absence from skilled soccer, serving to them out of insolvency.

One subject that have to be mentioned is the involvement of Metropolis Soccer Group, which invested in Girona in 2017 and has held a 47 per cent stake – they’re certainly one of 12 golf equipment beneath its umbrella.

“Metropolis had been investing in golf equipment and we spoke with them and mentioned they might have a part of the membership in a spot the place they know,” Guardiola explains, with Girona initially benefiting from gamers being loaned and the sharing of knowledge.

“To start with, we might assist kind the gamers after which someday they might play for Man Metropolis or be bought, like Pedro Porro who went to Sporting. It was to have a stepping-stone membership.”

That relationship has needed to change, a minimum of till June 30 2025, with CFG’s shareholding positioned in an impartial blind belief to adjust to Uefa’s laws after Girona certified for the Champions League.

“Now we’re fully separate, however we had been all the time fairly impartial,” Guardiola says earlier than addressing the accusation that the CFG funding was solely ever made within the first place due to his brother.

“In soccer and in life, in enterprise, they’re all the time going to gossip and say issues. The truth is the fact. We turned shareholders. 4 years in the past, I bought a part of my stake to Marcelo Claure [a Bolivian-American entrepreneur and the president of Club Bolivar, another CFG partner; Pere still holds 16 per cent].

“We have to generate an excellent squad. We have to see the cash and the way it’s invested – a part of it’s within the squad, within the new stadium, within the coaching floor, within the academy. In the long run, we have to overlook what individuals say outdoors of this. We have to do our plan and we have to maintain going.”

Getting one of the best out of Man Utd flops

Girona haven’t merely thrown cash at it. Their squad is a mixture of skilled older gamers reminiscent of former Manchester United pair Daley Blind and Donny van de Beek, and rising younger abilities together with Miguel Gutiérrez, 23, and Arnau Martínez, 21. It’s a shrewdly assembled, beforehand undervalued group of gamers.

Girona function with one of many 5 lowest revenues and wage payments in La Liga. Their success over the previous two years has now improved their funds and talent to spend.

“We’ve a coach and we play in a means that not everybody matches however some individuals can match. That implies that Daley Blind, for instance, is an ideal participant for us and we’re an ideal platform for him. Van de Beek is a bit like this. He went to United and was unfortunate, shedding momentum with totally different coaches and totally different gamers and acquired injured. He was in groups that had been struggling to play attacking soccer and he wants that kind of soccer. Now we’re able that our soccer matches him very nicely, the Spanish league matches him very nicely, understanding that he wanted time. He had two, three years with out actually taking part in and daily now you may see he’s bettering.”

Guardiola’s plan for Girona is evident: stabilise the membership and have “three primary pillars” – an excellent first-team squad, higher infrastructure together with a brand new stadium, and convey again the youth academy, which he has achieved.

“The problem is to be in La Liga for the following 15 years. That needs to be the objective,” he says. “If from time to time we’re Champions League, then ‘bingo’.”

Guardiola acknowledges they’ve struggled within the Champions League thus far, being in thirtieth place with three factors. However they’re the place they need to be. Liverpool are coming to their 9,600-seat Montilivi residence and Guardiola desires them to embrace it.

“It is going to be troublesome in opposition to Liverpool, AC Milan and Arsenal however we don’t have to be afraid to play our soccer in opposition to them, after which let’s see what occurs.”