A football question-Guardiola and Huddersfield

[firemonkey]

How would Huddersfield do if they were managed by Guardiola ? Would he be able to transform them into a top 5 team on the strength of his managerial skills ,or ultimately does financial clout matter most?

[Bambos]

It's hard to know for sure but I think it's both. There's plenty of clubs now with huge budgets and they are not all doing that well. Just splurging money on players doesn't guarantee anything. I suppose there's also different kinds of managerial skills at the top, keeping all the big time charlies in check etc.

Equally I think a team of expensive players with a bad manager generally wont fulfil their potential.

I seem to remember Huddersfield spending a reasonable amount of money when they came up, but to answer your question I think they'd be mid table/top half.

[neilm]

Originally Posted by firemonkey

How would Huddersfield do if they were managed by Guardiola ? Would he be able to transform them into a top 5 team on the strength of his managerial skills ,or ultimately does financial clout matter most?

Very unlikely, financial clout is far more important than any individual manager nowadays. There is of course the one-off freakish event of Leicester City's Title win a couple of years ago as the exception to the rule.

Of course, a Huddersfield/Burnley type club "might" sneak into the Top 5 for a season or so, but thats about it realistically .

[Ajax Amsterdam]

Mid-table, probably.
He's a good manager, but that only gets you so far. He also appears to be a 'chequebook manager' who only manages clubs who can throw massive money at any problem area. Mourinho is the same.

Money isn't everything. Just look at the shambles that is Everton. They've threw away a quarter of a billion quid in recent transfer windows to become worse than they were before they started. Mind you, they have a complete joke of a manager and board too.

Pep plus unlimited money will get you right up there amongst the honours. Pep at the likes of Huddersfield? Solid mid-table with maybe the odd cup run and periods where they punch above their weight now and again.

[jd90]

Barca- Inherited so many truly great players, they'd won the champions league just a few years prior. So no idea how good he was there.
Bayern- Moyes would win the league each year, inherited a treble winning team, never went back to the final.
City- richest club In the world.

He's won two CLs... well so has Zidane and I have no idea how good he is. Luis Enrique was average and won a treble with Barca. So I honestly can't say. But he has his philosophy that he won't change... Good luck getting Huddersfield to play that way.
( I also think he's on drugs, dude is wired and twitchy af 24/7, i'd be on edge around him 24/7 :laughing )

[Ajax Amsterdam]

Originally Posted by jd90

Bayern- Moyes would win the league each year,

This is where your post lost all credibility.

I think Moyes would even mess up the Bayern job. He's a shocking manager.
I remember when our neighbours across Stanley Park said if Moyes had money he'd win the lot. He then goes to Old Trafford... and royally messed up with stupid money at his disposal. The guy is a fraud who got lucky by getting regular bottom-half strugglers Everton to punch above their weight for a while whilst winning absolutely nothing at all.

[gregarious_introvert]

As jd says, Guardiola has a footballing philosophy from which he won't deviate, so it would depend on whether he could find players within Huddersfield (or who could fit into the club's wage structure) capable of playing to that philosophy; also, given the levels at which Guardiola has played and managed and the length of time he has spent in England, I would doubt his knowledge of players outside the top level who might be suitable transfer targets.

Sometimes, there is a combination of manager and players which become a unit greater than the sum of its parts, because of a team spirit and a belief which comes from staying together and shared experiences - and it seems that Wagner and Huddersfield may be one of those, meaning that a change of manager could disrupt everything; Eddie Howe and Bournemouth, Sean Dyche and Burnley are other examples where clubs have exceeded expectation.

If Huddersfield were to need a new manager, it would need to be someone who was capable of adapting style and tactics to the squad, whereas Guardiola is the complete opposite and builds a squad to match the style; maybe a more pragmatic Pulis-style manager. Fitting a manager to a club isn't as simple as seeing what success they've had elsewhere and assuming it will work at another club, Brian Clough's disastrous six weeks at Leeds United shows what can go wrong, whilst Liverpool offered Bill Shankley a job despite his record at Huddersfield Town not being exceptional.

Of course, if Guardiola were to coach Huddersfield, it would mean that other players who respect his record (and may have played under him previously) would be willing to join the club, revenue would increase because of the Guardiola souvenirs supporters would be buying and the attention it would attract, but it is doubtful that, even with the increased revenue, that the club would be able to afford those players. However, with the support of the board and given time (a luxury in top-level football these days), it is possible that he could make them a top half team, possibly Champions League contenders - but it is equally possible that he could take them down to League 1, if they can't adapt to his philosophy, get relegated and then have to cope with the more physical demands of the Championship whilst trying to play tippy-tappy.

[neilm]

One thing that cant really be denied is that his sides play an "entertaining brand of football" I know not everyone likes his "death by a thousand passes" philosophy, but personally I think its great.

Of course (as has rightly been said) hes only managed the worlds richest clubs, and it could well be argued that other managers may have won as many trophies with such riches. Mourinho(for example) has won many trophies at Porto/Inter/Chelsea, but his sides tend to be less entertaining in doing so.

It would be interesting to see how Pepe got on at a Huddersfield type club mind and whether he'd be forced to be more of a footballing pragmatist, than he is now.