For a long (long) time, football was surrounded by a halo of mystique that said that, in the end, good or bad management did not exist. It all depended on whether the ball went in or not. A few centimeters up or down made the difference between success and failure. And that’s what the game boiled down to. It had its logic.
Football takes place on a very large playing field (official measurements range from 45×90 meters to 90×120); with 22 people trying to handle a ball; with four posts and two crossbars that can be a support towards the goal or a stop on the way to it; and, more importantly: it is a sport that is played with the feet, a part of the body with which the precision capacity is quite far from that of the hands.
With these ingredients, it is normal that someone approached Ferran Soriano the day after the candidacy of which he was a part won the elections to preside over Barça and told him to forget about applying great management techniques, about the desire to use the common sense and business logic. Football, he told him, is a matter of chance.
In reality, football—beyond the passion—is as unique as many other human activities. Luck plays a fundamental role in existence, but a company can buy more tickets to have it in its favor if it works on the key details. The ball does not enter by chance (Granica) is the book in which Ferran Soriano shares the learnings of a career that has led him to be the CEO of Manchester City. A book about the importance of asking yourself the right questions to find the necessary answers. A management manual that covers everything from the need to understand the soul of the business to the creation of a true team or the talent necessary to, precisely, identify talent. Reason and passion in negotiations. Decision making based on criteria. Aspects that limit the role of chance in football and in life.
You can follow The USA Print in Facebook and xor sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.
_
