When ranking the greatest ever Barcelona coaches the most obvious metric to use is silverware. After all, this is a club defined by glory, a team that without fail resides among the favourites in the sports betting, and always with strong justification.
Barca are one of only seven clubs in the world whose trophy-count runs into treble figures.
Yet, focusing only on competitions won would deprive us of some totemic figures, men who irrevocably altered the club’s fortunes for the better.
The stonewall genius who is seventh on our list only won one league title and a Copa del Rey across six years in Catalonia. Without his influence and masterful mind, however, who knows where the mighty Blaugrana would be now. Very conceivably they may have spent decades in Real Madrid’s shadow.
Terry Venables
Bobby Robson could easily have got the nod here, winning the Cup Winners Cup and two domestic cups in his single season in Spain. That and signing the original, and best, Ronaldo.
‘El Tel’ though is a worthy inclusion, by virtue of orchestrating a La Liga triumph in 1985, the club’s first for over a decade.
Though his tactical acumen was beyond repute, Venables went with a quintessentially British 4-4-2 set-up for his successful side, making it more Anglicised still by signing Mark Hughes and Gary Lineker.
Rinus Michels
The Godfather of Total Football was named Coach of the Century by FIFA in 1999 after utterly transforming the landscape of the game via his tactical innovations.
His Ajax side conquered Europe three times over before he brought his vision lock-stock-and-overlapping-centre-backs to Catalonia. He was joined by his star pupil Johan Cruyff two years later whereupon Barca won the league with style to spare.
Michels helped take football out of the dark ages, passing on the baton to Cruyff who likewise did the same to Pep Guardiola.
His impact on Barcelona, and the sport as a whole, will forever be immeasurable.
Louis Van Gaal
Another Dutchman schooled in Ajax’s totaalvoetbal, Van Gaal’s first tenure in Spain was highly successful yet it was also a constant struggle. He fell out spectacularly with Rivaldo, his team’s star man, who insisted on playing up front despite Van Gaal deploying him on the left. He bickered bitterly with the press pack.
While all of this was going on, Barcelona won two league titles, and played some wonderful stuff. There was even a continental honour in the form of a UEFA Super Cup.
The whole time though, the eccentric coach was being worn down, the sack coming almost as a relief in 2000.
His second stint was forgettable frankly, aside from his decision to release Rivaldo on a free, with the Brazilian still having a year left on his contract.
Frank Rijkaard
Somewhat unusually, Rijkaard’s first managerial gig was taking his country to a World Cup, the Dutch legend stepping in to replace Guus Hiddink after several months spent as his assistant. To add to the enormous pressure, Holland were hosting the tournament that year too.
In the event, Oranje fared very well, exiting in the semis via a penalty shoot-out. They were a joy to watch.
Naturally, this gained the attention of several leading clubs, with Barcelona making an approach in 2003.
In many ways, Frank Rijkaard has become the forgotten man in the club’s modern era, and there are two reasons for this. After leaving Catalonia his reputation took an unexpected nose-dive, resulting in Rijkaard hanging up his suit soon after. And his immediate successor at Camp Nou was a certain Josep Guardiola.
His record though speaks for itself, with two La Liga titles and a Champions League won in addition to some fabulous football served up by the likes of Ronaldinho.
Ferdinand Daučík
The Slovakian’s managerial career was nomadic and sprawling, consisting of 18 clubs and four different national sides. Across 35 years he coached teams as diverse as Atletico Madrid and Toronto Falcons, overseeing 553 games in Spain alone.
Unquestionably though, it was at Barcelona where he enjoyed his zenith, fortunate to join the club at the same time as Laszlo Kubala whose statue now stands proud outside the stadium.
The prolific striker – along with other legendary names such as Antoni Ramallets and Cesar Rodriguez – went on to dominate Spanish football, famously winning five trophies in a single season.
Daučík trained them well, set them up correctly, and just let them play.
Luis Enrique
‘Lucho’ was unfortunate to be omitted from our greatest Barcelona midfielders list, just pipped by Ivan Rakitic.
Ironically, the Croatian thrived at Camp Nou under Enrique across three fantastic campaigns, that saw Blaugrana win domestic and European honours in abundance.
Before the Champions League triumph and La Liga successes however there was Barcelona B, Enrique succeeding Guardiola in that role and suitably impressing, enough for Roma to lure him to Italy.
A brief failed stint there didn’t deter Barcelona from bringing their hero home and placing him in the hot-seat, leading to three years of the Catalan giants topping the football betting on a weekly basis.
Johan Cruyff
Cruyff’s genius still looms large over the club, as it does the rest of football.
After spending five years illuminating the Camp Nou pitch as a player of rare repute, the Dutchman returned a decade later to restore them to the elevated level he left them at, only now there would be no compromises. Now, he called the shots.
Which meant simply winning wasn’t enough, the football had to be aesthetically perfect, artwork on grass. As he once said – “Winning is an important thing, but to have you own style, to have people copy you, to admire you, that is the greatest gift.”
To that end, enigmatic craftsman such as Michael Laudrup and Hristo Stoichkov were given license to entertain like never before, while Romario played the best football of his career in Catalonia.
Cruyff’s creation in Spain wasn’t called the ‘Dream Team’ purely because they won four league titles and a European Cup. It’s because their football was dreamy.
Pep Guardiola
A key man in Cruyff’s midfield ranks, Guardiola absorbed every word the great man imparted, assimilated them into the giant computer that was his brain, and conceived a blueprint that went even further into the realms of complete possession-based fare.
What Cruyff demanded was masterpieces, painted on the pitch. What his mentor and proud Catalonian wanted was perfection.
He got it too, or as near as any side has come before or since.
After pulling up trees with Barcelona B, the grandmaster was appointed head coach of the first team in 2008, and wasted little time in making it clear the underperforming superstars in situ wouldn’t cut it. Ronaldinho went, so too Deco.
In their place, Sergio Busquets was promoted from the youth side, while Xavi and Andres Iniesta became fundamental principles of his vision, as much as they were extraordinary players.
There is also the not-so-small matter of Lionel Messi emerging to prominence, a talent who was destined to conquer the world no matter who stood in the technical area.
Amidst a perfect storm, Guardiola took football to an entirely new level, winning everything in sight, and by doing so influencing the game right down to its grassroots, in Spain and abroad.
