Book Review - Barca: The Making of the Greatest Team in the World.

February saw the release of the much anticipated book about FC Barcelona’s current team, Barca: The Making of the Greatest Team in the World, by Graham Hunter. The book delves into how the current team managed by Guardiola took on the world and became one of the best teams in world and perhaps one of the best ever. The book is a must have for Barça fans who will not be disappointed by Mr. Hunter’s well researched and insightful book.
Barça fans have been blessed to witness the great achievements made by the current Barcelona team ever since Guardiola took over the helm of the first team. However, the same fans have lamented the fact that we have not seen many books in English that talked about FC Barcelona this past decade. In fact, there haven’t been that many books about FC Barcelona in English at all. For many of us Barça fans, Jimmy Burns’s Book, Barça: A People's Passion, was the only book that talked about the history of the club up to the year 2000.
Much has changed in these past 12 years but not much had been written about it. Many fans longed for a follow up to Mr. Burns’s book and it’s safe to say that Mr. Hunter has done just that. Even though many of us consider sequels to be inferior to the original, it is safe to say that this book is a great book .The book gives us the good, the bad and the ugly that has transpired at the club during the reign of former presidents Gaspart and Laporta and current president Rosell.

To many Cules, Graham Hunter is a recognizable name thanks to his work on Revista De La Liga program for Sky Sports, his columns for ESPN Soccernet and UEFA along with his duties serving as online match text commentary for UEFA on their website. Now, some would accuse Mr. Hunter of being a closet Cule but the Scotsman is an Aberdeen fan who happens to live in Barcelona and admires the club. Fortunately for us Barça fans, as a result of his hard work, this great reporter has given us a great book.

Like I stated before, this book looks back at how the club had fallen during the Gaspart times, then risen under Laporta before suffering a slight dip before Guardiola came in and ushered a new era. Mr. Hunter gives us the lowdown on Guardiola’s career as a player at and away from Barcelona and what he has accomplished as a manager. He also gives us an insight on most of the starting players’ past, such as Xavi, Iniesta and Messi and what it cost them to climb through the ranks before finally becoming valued starters. Mr. Hunter also provides us with a great understanding on how the club has used La Masia to its advantage. On top of it, Mr. Hunter reveals unknown gems such as what Pique had to go through to recover the nets after the World Cup Final in South Africa, which world class starters almost were loaned out to other clubs early into their Barça careers, the bad deeds of former players that caused their exit and just how close the club was to signing Mourinho as Rijkaard’s replacement and why they opted not to, which could explain Mourinho’s with Barcelona right now.

Is this book better than Jimmy Burns’s book? That’s not a fair question to ask. They are both must-have great books with each serving a purpose for us die hard Cules. One covers the history of the club and the other picks up right where the last book left off and given us an amazing breakdown of what the club, Guardiola and the players have went through over the years. The book is over 400 pages and you can’t put it down once you start reading. There are people who have already read the book twice and I plan on doing that again in the future. Even more impressive is the design of the paperback which makes it easy to read without destroying or bending the cover or the book itself.

The book is available in both paperback and eBook formats and can be bought on Amazon and from the publishers. I was fortunate enough to buy one last month from the publishers, BackPage Press, which was signed by Mr. Hunter himself. I recently contacted the publishers and they informed me that they were running low on signed copies. So if you are interested in getting a signed copy, I was just informed that they no longer have any signed books for sale. However, if you are interested in purchasing a copy, then please contact the publishers at backpage@backpagepress.co.uk as soon as possible.

Overall, this is a must have book for all Cules who will not be disappointed. Finally, a book for us Cules to enjoy and relive the joy of the success that Guardiola and the players have given us over the years. Also, if I may be so bold to suggest that if Mr. Hunter is ever in Miami, he would be a fine candidate to be made an honorary member of the Miami Penya. Buy this book because you won’t regret it.