Three important football coaches announced their next departures in recent days: Sven-Göran Eriksson, Jürgen Klopp and Xavi Hernández.
The first two were greeted by waves of emotional disbelief and effusive appreciation as a wide range of people said, explicitly and implicitly, “We love you, we respect what you've done. This will leave a chasm in our lives.”
Xavi's shocking announcement that he feels beaten, blamed and almost broken, leading him to abandon his contract with Barcelona within five months at the latest, was met with criticism, impatience and schadenfreude and a rude, “Okay, he's gone… who's next?”
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Naturally there are some differences between the three situations.
“Svennis” is a kind, gentle, interesting and extraordinarily successful Swede who won three European trophies (with IFK Göteborg and Lazio), was runner-up in three more, including the 1990 European Cup final against AC Milan, won the Italian Cup four times with three different clubs (Sampdoria, AS Roma, Lazio) and proclaimed Benfica champion of Portugal three times.
Eriksson, a man who, when I visited him at his lakeside home in southern Sweden, was hosting a family of Afghan asylum seekers in a cabin in his garden, has announced that he is not only dying of incurable cancer but is The time left is one year. probably.
Comments about how he was viewed peaked at the Swedish Sports Gala in Stockholm last week, when the great and the good stood up and continued applauding when he took the stage, to the point that a smiling and shy Eriksson had He has to shut them up and, as he usually does, downplays things instead of playing to the gallery.
We'll come back to Sven in a moment.
Klopp's “farewell” was because the 56-year-old German wanted to take charge of his destiny, to be honest and open with people long before his waning energy reached debilitating and threatening levels.
Again there was an explosion of disbelief, disappointment, adoration and, crucially, respect, completely justified and often quite moving.
Klopp has set new standards at Liverpool, he has infused the club with his personality, and only a miser or a liar could disagree that he has been immensely good for football in England. We will miss him dearly when he departs in June.
Xavi's announcement, the reasons and the reception were notably different from the other two.
Not only have recent times seen a rollercoaster of football action (five games in 13 days with a gross total of 29 goals, two wins and three losses), but they have also produced a precipitous drop in emotional strength and the positivity of the Catalan who “celebrated” his 43rd birthday in the midst of that infernal competitive attack during which his team exhibited constant fragility.
From telling local journalists that he began each day full of optimism, that he always saw the glass half full, that he took all the criticism, the mockery, the attacks, the memes with good humor, he suddenly went on to choose the afternoon before the this weekend. after a painful 5-3 home defeat to Villarreal, to say: “Maybe I'm the only one who really understands the reality of this club's situation.”
The words of someone who felt alone.
1:54
Marcotti: the announcement of Xavi's departure is “a hard blow” for Barcelona
Gab Marcotti reacts to Xavi's announcement that he will step down as Barcelona coach at the end of the season.
Once his team lost 5-3 after leading 3-2 with six minutes left in regulation, the mood changed radically. During the match he was reprimanded again for his protests. He went to find the lens of a television camera and said, straight to the bottom of the barrel, that the fact that the refereeing team did not award a penalty to Barcelona at 3-3 in the 89th minute was “shameful.”
Keep in mind that the referees were right and Xavi was wrong.
Then, after the game, the Barcelona coach not only announced that he had decided to resign a year before the summer of 2025, which is when his contract ends (an agreement that Barcelona renewed, improved and extended only 127 days before), but he used some very revealing and, in my opinion, damning phrases.
Although he stated that he was making this announcement to try to change the dynamics of the team, to try to start a great end to the season, etc., he added: “The feeling of being Barcelona coach is unpleasant and cruel, I almost always feel a lack of respect, that “Your efforts are not valued and that this job is a tremendous drain on your mental health. It is a drain on your energy and, although I am a very positive person, it gets to the point where we decide there is no point in continuing.”
Now listen to me carefully. No legend of the game ever deserves a “free pass” at a club once he becomes coach, president or whatever. And it is in no way unfair to put Barcelona's final months with Xavi in charge under the microscope of constructive criticism… not at all. But this is a guy who not only was an inspiring lynchpin for several years of the best and most successful football Barça has ever played, but he also came back, brought the training ground culture out of the gutter, re-established competitive aggressiveness, won the title, he knew His main objective this season is to overcome the group stage of the Champions League and has a very positive “net” balance in Classics.
All of those facts should demand that, whether his coaching performance has leveled off or declined since winning two trophies last season, respect, fairness, decency and patience must be 100% guaranteed in the way he is handled. it is treated and talked about.
The general tone of the reaction to his news and his words, on radio, television, newspapers and social media, was horrible: dismissive, dismissive, critical and included most of the elements that Xavi had despaired of during those last press conferences. .
1:42
Xavi reveals why he is leaving Barcelona
Xavi says a “change of direction” is necessary when he leaves Barcelona at the end of the season.
In short, through the reactions, the messages were that I had reacted immaturely, in the heat of the moment. If her intention was to help the team by leaving in the summer, then why not leave now. That he will probably be fired at the first mishap in the team's performance in the future. That the players will no longer take his authority seriously. And, of course, then there was the vulture speculation, across a host of names, about who might be next, either immediately or in the summer.
Very little time was actually dedicated to “listening” to what Xavi had expressed, nor to evaluating it, nor to trying to balance that, perhaps, his problems of recent months were very far from his own account.
I relate Xavi's decision, and how it has been received, to the Klopp and Eriksson announcements because all three men are united in the scandalous treatment they have had to suffer at one time or another.
– Klopp's best moments in Liverpool after the shocking announcement
They are emblematic of the disgusting trend in which the media, fans and even some in their own industry treat top athletes as expendable, unfeeling commodities until they die, retire or win a major prize or trophy. Then, and only then, does everyone get excited.
Eriksson, particularly in England, was relentlessly portrayed as an irresponsible playboy. His private life became material not only for the front pages of tabloids, but he also began to dominate the back pages. I know, because we talked about it, that he felt embarrassed, humiliated, betrayed by some people around him, harassed.
Klopp, because under his direction Borussia Dortmund and then Liverpool lost two Champions League finals, a German Cup final, a Europa League final and a League Cup final in the space of five years between 2013 and 2018, he was regularly called a bottleneck, a loser, and someone who didn't have the “right” thing. He was ridiculous, vindictive and intemperate. And bad.
The German has been ridiculed and mocked for his relentless unwillingness to tone down or tone down his responses on specific topics when he thinks he, his players or his club are being ignored on certain serious issues about which he and they have strong feelings. feelings.
Now after he suddenly revealed that his Auf Wiedersehen The moment is imminent, everyone seems to have things clear: Klopp is legendary, impressive, marks an era… a giant of modern football in England.
The pendulum hits high-profile people while they are doing their jobs, and then swings back when, as I say, they are sick, dying, dead, retired, winning or emerging triumphant. Massive hypocrisy.
Xavi added something else; He argued that Barcelona has a particular form of this disease: belittling anyone when they are there (he named Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets and former coach Ernesto Valverde) and then appreciating or missing them only when they leave. He knows that Pep Guardiola also left the club unhappy, exhausted, feeling deeply hurt and underestimated.
So, to end with a little emphasis: the coach of the current champions of Spain, winners of the most surprising and against the odds LaLiga title that I remember, who fulfilled the first of this season's objectives set by his bosses, whom He was offered and signed better and longer contract terms four months ago, he decided to quit because of how poisonous, vindictive and ungrateful the environment around him is.
Journalists, editors, media heads, fans, former players and coaches have banded together to make coaching layoffs an “entertainment” industry in itself, something that is becoming a daily “trending topic,” something of what coaches are forced to talk about and Worse yet, worry about the week. A blood sport.
I, for one, find it disgusting. And whether or not Xavi is the right man for Barcelona's current needs, I fundamentally object to all the things that have combined to make him say that he had had enough.
I think if you asked Klopp and Eriksson if they agreed with me or not, their answers would be firm and clear.
