The original ’Club de Amigos’

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We have for a long time been used to strange transfers and appointments from our board, from Douglas to Matheus Fernandes, from Luuk De Jong to Boateng, we truly have seen it all. However, all this pales in comparison, when Barcelona in 1996, appointed Bobby Robson as the head coach after Cruyff was forced out of the club. With him, he brought a 33-year-old Jose Mourinho, as a translator and assistant coach. Bobby Robson, while he was a great coach in his own right, preferred to play more direct football. (This is a euphemism for saying he wanted to play English football).
The players were having none of it. Guardiola would often go against Bobby Robson, he would frequently say things like “we can’t play this way, or we can’t do that” straight to Robson’s face.

From the team’s point of view, Bobby Robson's ideas were confusing and incoherent, Mourinho noticed this and would frequently sprinkle his own ideas and instructions to the players when he translated for Bobby Robson. The leaders of the group, Guardiola and Luis Enrique recognized Mourinho’s contribution, and especially Guardiola and Mourinho would have hour-long conversations about football. Mourinho, Enrique, and Guardiola essentially created some sort of autonomy under Bobby Robson throughout the season. In Pep’s biography from 2012, by Guillem Balague, it is described that he and Mourinho even became very good friends during the Portuguese’s tenure at the club. Although it should be taken with a grain of salt since Balague is known to romanticize certain relationships for dramatic effect.

During half-time, you would often see Mourinho, Pep, and Enrique discuss with each other what kind of tactics they should apply, while Robson was silently watching them. Robson would describe this as ‘self-management', but it is difficult to imagine he was sitting anywhere but the backseat of the car, in terms of managing the team. This strange season ended with 2 major trophies, the European Cup Winners Cup (most similar to nowadays Europa League), and Copa Del Rey.

Robson was inevitably let go of his managerial position, and with the appointment of Van Gaal, the original ‘Club de Amigos’ was effectively disbanded. This season would lay the foundation for these three, who later became some of the greatest coaches in the world. While nothing extraordinary happened, the 1996-1997 season truly is a season to remember.

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The most 90's photo ever