Barca: The Making of the Greatest Team in the World Kindle Edition

Yes, Barca is about my my favorite team EVER! But like FC Barcelona, this book is so much more. Graham is virtually an insider for La Liga and FCB is no exception for his amazing insights. I can say honestly you don't need to be a big soccer fan or FC Barca fan to love the inner workings of one of the greatest clubs ever. The stories of how Pep G, Messi, Puyol, Iniesta and others created a winning machine are great. Within these football insights rests some life lessons and even business lessons. Honor, integrity and building success from the ground up are lessons anyone can use. I can say I have started to consider these lessons within my own life and business dealings.The juxtaposition of FCB's darkest days to its' brightest are riveting reading for the casual or even non-fan of the sport or this team. As with most great stories it is about the people involved and these people are fascinating. The times when the club appeared to be hitting on all cylinders,had behind the scenes activities working against the club are fascinating. Sadly the positive to negative shift for a FCB great, Ronaldinho are illuminating as to what really matters.FC Barcelona's expression of Mes Que Un Club - More than a Club is shown to be more than a marketing slogan. The club didn't do everything right to be certain but even their missteps show valuable lessons in how to stay true to your heart. The ebb and flow of this great team's most recent decade really can show others how to focus on the important matters.

Great as Barcelona has been in recent years, It certainly must have been something to have seen all the games referred to here when Pep Guardiola played and coached for the team! Reading this wonderful book keeps one's mouth drooling at what it must have been like to have seen the Gold Standard of Football (Soccer) rejuvenated by the old style style and passion of the Brazilian tradition.For beginners, it should be noted, that this book is more than just a puff piece about the fabulous Lionel Messi, and it does jump around a lot with many of the other Barca team members,even if it leaves out many of the best Italian and other great players of the teams also then playing and challenging Barca.In short, it assumes that the reader is already somewhat familiar with the previous several decades of the European football scene, and shouldn't get confused. In addition, the author writes with great and delicious excitement, and it is so fascinating to read, and full of excitement too, that I recommend it to anyone interested in sports of any kind, if not already a soccer fanatic.

If you are into European professional football, there's no way you could be unaware of the miracle that is the Barcelona team for the past 5 years or so. This book is a fascinating glimpse into the people and the system behind that miracle. The best parts are the mini-biographies of the key players and Pep Guardiola. The historical power and money struggles of the team management are less interesting but informative. The book is clearly written for the well-informed Barca follower who already know the team's style of play and its players. The writing is a bit scattered and sometimes repetitive, but at its best it manages to vividly capture the behind-the-scenes feel and humanity of the best team in world football, and leaves you with a much better understanding of why they have been so successful.

If you are a Barca fan, or you want to know what perfect football is, buy this book.Graham Hunter specifically detailed every necessary character, every math, every policy the managers made. I have been addicted reading this book and have been unable to get rid of it. I'm a Barca fan since 2007, they are really good.Just last night, having read three chapters in this book, i intuitively watched the Champions league 2011, in which Barca 3:1 Manchester United, I cant remember how many times I have watch the recording video, but that one was the most impressive one, having what Graham Hunter written in his book, and you watch the game, it's completely different.STRONGLY RECOMMENDED TO BARCA FANS AND FOOTBALL PROFESSIONALS.

Well proportioned book with an interesting approach to chapters - where they are built around the outstanding personalities of the team. The development of the team pays too much attention to the Guardiola era which is its zenith but there were definitely foundations laid by Frank Rijkaard, who by bringing in Ludovic Guily, Eto'o and Deco and was prepared to play all of these relatively short guys in the same team. This philosophical strength reinforced the template.

A great insight into one of the (if not the greatest) club sides of all time. However, I wouldn't recommend it unless you a truly a Barca diehard supporter, as the author has a bias that takes away from the book. Author's voice is annoying at best and unbearable at worst. Actually struggled to finish it, which never happens to me with sports books.

Graham Hunter has put together a great book analysing one of the greatest teams in modern football history & what went into the making of Barça. Right from the junior teams to Barça B and the first team, the book emphasises the philosophy of the brand of football that Barça brought to the world. Right from Cruyff to the Rijkaard & the Guardiola era, the book takes the reader through all that went on in the Barça board through those years. But most importantly, the book dedicates a chapter each to the men who made this team what it became, Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol, Valdes, Pique, Guardiola etc... Thoroughly enjoyed reading about each one of those players who has brought so much joy to all the Cules. All in all a great book!

Excellent book if you are a Barca fan, not matter what!. I am happy with my purchase. VISCA BARCA!

Written in a style that only this author can. A fantastic insight into a truly great team. Fabulously enjoyable, I read it in two sittings. I enjoyed it so much that I used it as a basis to get some of my school football football team to read more...and they did. In fact one of them who is now a professional still has one of my copies of this book! So impressed with the style of the book and its content I contacted Mr Hunter to interview him for a football podcast....and he agreed! He was so giving with his time and we spent a couple of hours just talking about football. Knowledgable, funny and with a real desire to get across his love of the game this book is just like Mr Hunter. Key matches are described and dissected as are key players to paint a picture of a truly wonderful team and how they became so. This book does the subject matter justice. If you're a football fan, read it. You'll love it...even if you're a Madrista!

This is possibly the most enjoyable book about sport that I have read, certainly the best I have read in a long time. The combination of Graham Hunter, a splendid author, and Barcelona, an even better team, proved to be the perfect match. The book mainly focuses on the greatest period of the clubs history, the three seasons that spanned from 2008-2011. In 2008 Barcelona were a team that were on the wane, full of seasoned internationals and bonafide superstars but lacking motivation and morale. That all changed when Pep Guardiola took charge and brought his own philosophy of possession-based football which was to prove revolutionary. Hunter goes into great detail on how Guardiola was first able to rid the squad of stragglers such as Ronaldinho and Deco and get key players like Messi and Xavi to understand and implement his principles. It is very interesting to then read about the relentless way in which Guardiola went about getting the best out of his players.Key matches such as the destruction of Man Utd at Wembley and the 5-0 thrashing of Real Madrid are also well documented. Hunter also chronicles the rise of Leo Messi, which proves to be very informative, as I was never aware of how close Messi was to moving back to Argentina during his early years at Camp Nou. It is inconceivable to think that fans of European football might have been deprived of watching such a genius in action.All in all I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone interested in the greatest team to ever play the beautiful game!

Graham Hunter tells the story of FC Barcelona up until THAT game – their Champions League victory over Manchester United at Wembley in 2011. Like the game that night, this is marvellous, simply marvellous (and that’s coming from a United fan!).I’ll start with a quote from Pep Guardiola which I found in this book. If only more people involved in football could share these sentiments. “We live in a world where everything is spiralling in cost and many people need to make a big sacrifice in order to go and watch a game of football. So, for me, it all makes sense, the effort, the work, the planning, the concentration and the discipline if you do it for the people. The manner in which we have played this season is a demonstration of the respect we have for the people who pay for a ticket or pay money to watch matches on television.”Wow, just wow. If only there were more men like him, but I guess that’s why there’s only one Guardiola – the most sought-after manager of a generation. Guardiola is of course a disciple of Johan Cruyff, who features heavily through-out this book, as he did in the development of this great club.The chapter on Cruyff is one to point out. “His work at the Camp Nou can between 1988 and 1996 can be broken into three basic sections. He won trophies, reshaped youth development but, above all, embedded beliefs which remain not only part of Barcelona’s DNA but now part of the wider footballing culture in Spain, too.” At one point in the book, Graham states: “Without [Cruyff], there would be no Pep Guardiola, no Messi, no Xavi and no Andrés Iniesta.” If we extend that further, then there wouldn’t be this book or the beautiful football that transfixes the world either. Imagine the void.Whatever I write, I cannot do this book justice. The Making of the Greatest Team in the World is a marvellous body of work; entertaining, intriguing and thought-provoking through-out, filled with wit, charm and romance – and all the better for it! It’s an obvious thing to say, but like the rest of us, Graham has fallen in love with FC Barcelona and their style of play, and who can blame him?

I found the book so good i couldn't put it down but was also really fascinating & informative as well.I watched on in wonder at the greatest team on the planet winning the 2011 Champions league & really I wanted to know more about the origins of this team and just how they became the force they are, this book tells the Barca story.When I say the Barca story I mean the book looks at all aspects of just how this unique club reached the summit of world football from the origins of the tactics they employ the 4-3-3, the politics of Barca & the huge influence Johan Cruyff played in the modern Barcalona as they are now. I really enjoyed also they went through most of the starting 11 & really told the individual players stories from childhood being discovered & going through La Masia the Barca academy, probably Messi's story was the most interesting.You really get a sense from the book of the mentality, history & culture of this football club.I think what makes this such a good book is that the author has a really personal interest in the history of Barcelona, he is very football clever but also that he has a great talent as a writer.Theres also some really interesting snippets & stories in there as well like how close was Mourinho to being Barca manager instead of Guardiola? What went on behind the scenes at the Beckham to Real Madrid transfer? read and find out.

Really enjoyed the stories going back to the beginning and how La Masia and finding the🐐 led to unprecedented success over several years. Also plenty of games mentioned to find clips of on YouTube to relive them (Ronaldinho and the ovation at the Bernabeu and the 2 Wembley Champions League finals among them)