Pep Guardiola

[Corb]

Pep's speech has begun to infuriate the spanish media:

http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2011/09/08/barcelona/1315503749.html
http://www.abc.es/20110908/espana/abci-guardiola-201109081959.html
http://larazon.es/noticia/4291-guar...-nos-ponemos-a-currar-somos-un-pais-imparable

 

[Birdy]

a translation please!
at least a synopsis in english

 

[Yugi]

what a legend

 

[FCBarca]

This line is getting a lot of reactions:

"No olvidéis nunca que, si nos levantamos bien pronto, no hay reproches, no hay excusas, si nos ponemos a currar, somos un país imparable"

Anyone give an accurate translation?

 

[FCBarca]

 

[yeswecan]

I don't understand , if Pep considers Catalonia as his country , how did he play 47 games for Spain NT ? aren't Spain main enemy of Catalan independentism?

 

[FCBarca]

Turns out the last line was translated as this:

“If we lift ourselves up in good time and start to think, believe me, we are an unstoppable country. Gràcies i Visca Catalunya”.

 

[FCBarca]

 

[Corb]

I don't understand , if Pep considers Catalonia as his country , how did he play 47 games for Spain NT ? aren't Spain main enemy of Catalan independentism?

If a player don't go to the NT call, he can be suspended for 5 years. Spanish democracy they call it.

 

[Corb]

This line is getting a lot of reactions:

Anyone give an accurate translation?

Don't forget that, if we wake up early, without reproach, without excuses, and we start to work, we'll be an unstoppable country.

 

[FCBarca]

Yeah, guess the Spanish media predictably finding issue with the 'calls for independence'

 

[Bojan_rnr]

It's not the whole speech, but it's better than nothing...

In a solemn ceremony and accompanied by his family and friends, the FC Barcelona manager has received the greatest honorary distinction from the Parliament of Catalonia.

The Auditorium of the Parliament of Catalonia was the venue for the presentation of the Medal of Honour to this year’s winner, the manager of FC Barcelona, Josep Guardiola. As part of the events leading up to the National Day of Catalonia, the president of the Parliament, Núria de Gispert, has presented him with the greatest honour a Catalan can receive.

Watched by his proud parents, wife and siblings, Guardiola received the Gold Medal at exactly 19.47 on September 8, 2011, making him the tenth recipient of the award that was first instated in 2000. Looking grateful but a little nervous, in his acceptance speech Guardiola stuck to his favourite subjects, football and sport in general.

The chosen one
With the Gold Medal around his neck, Josep Guardiola gave a humble press conference at which he said “I was chosen. Anybody else could have been chosen to be the manager of FC Barcelona.” He preferred to pass the merit for his sitting there in the Parliament building to the people that offered him the job, to the people he learned from, and also to his players, who he says are learning new things every day.

“I love my job”

He went on to add that “all I can say is that I love my job. I am passionate about my job, I adore it!” He said that in the build up to a match, he likes to examine the opposition alone, whereupon it dawns on him that “we can win. It is at that moment that I really feel my love for this job. I just want to do this job that I love so much as well as I can”.

Thanks to Barça

Guardiola also spoke about the role of sport in education. “What I learned is how a football team is a microsystem. I am who I am because I have done sport”. He preferred to quote former handball coach Barça Valero Rivera at this point. “Barça makes us all good. You live your profession while thanking this institution and never asking for anything in return from the institution.”

Worn with honour

Guardiola ended by saying that the Parliament of Catalonia’s Gold Medal is something “I shall wear as well as I can … If we lift ourselves up in good time and start to think, believe me, we are an unstoppable country. Gràcies i Visca Catalunya”.

source.

 

[La LL]

I hope this means he'll continue to coach Barca for a long time yet instead of going for greener pastures as he's hinted in the past.

I'm sort of split on the question of an independent Catalunya. Maybe it's because I'm not from there, but I really love all of Spain. In my opinion Spain is not Castile or Madrid. It's as much Basque Country, Catalunya, Galicia, Aragon and others as it is Castile. Without Catalunya, Spain wouldn't be Spain.

But then again my opinion hardly matters when it comes to Catalan Independence.

And think about a Catalan Football League. Barca would cruise to every victory every year. There would be no competition. At least we got Madrid, Valencia, Villarreal etc. as part of La Liga. Our rivalry with Real Madrid is also essential to FC Barcelona's identity.

 

[FCBarca]

True, a matter for another time but I don't see why the Basque or Catalans can't have their independence within a greater kingdom of Spain like Wales, Ireland or Scotland

 

[Barcaman]

Guardiola:

“I didn’t start my career with those pretensions. I try not to lose my perspective. You can’t predict these things. I don’t worry about these things. I was once passionate about playing football, now I am about coaching. I am passionate about my job, this team, giving pleasure to people that like football in general. I’ll continue to do my job as well as I can. If we hadn’t won the titles I’d still be happy to know that we tried”

“The strength of the team is that everybody has an influence in making this work. The club cannot depend on one person. It depends on the management, the Board, the coach, the players, the members … The club will stay strong because it has been for a long time. Yes, we’ve won a lot of titles in two years, but the club is over a hundred years old. As long as we keep making good signings we shall stay at the peak of our competitiveness”.

“I’m just a coach. I have no political vocation, there are people who are very prepared for that … All coaches in the world are passionate about their work. Me and some players have won 12 out of 15 titles? I’m proud of being a contemporary of my players … but these questions make me uncomfortable, stop it!”