pizza fandom

Thank you Pep, more than words can say. You were so much more than just the best possible coach to lead the club I loved, and you were so much more than just your connections to Barcelona. It isn’t Pep Guardiola the Barcelona coach that was my idol and hero, but Pep Guardiola the manager and the man. I am who I am today in part due to Pep Guardiola. There has been no single person who was a greater influence on my life through who he was outside of people I directly knew. Pep was idealism and honor and humility and principle, of putting yourself only after those you had a duty to. Of choosing the right over the easy. And mostly, of being his own man in a world where you could be cynical about the intentions and motivations of almost everything else.