Insider Sport’s Matchday Programme offers a personal look at what sporting moments and figures have inspired industry stakeholders. Through candid reflections, the programme delves into the stories behind the inspirations that have shaped their perspectives and fuelled their passion for sports.
In this edition, Jake Ashton, Senior News Editor at OLBG, explores Pep Guardiola’s transformative impact on English football and beyond. Ashton highlights Guardiola’s ability to reshape the game across the football pyramid, emphasising his remarkable track record of success throughout Europe.
Which athlete do you think demonstrated the best winning mentality throughout their career?
We’re honoured to be living in a time where we can watch both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s careers in the flesh. Both are firmly in the conversation for the best football player of all time and they do that by continuing to have that elite winning mentality on the pitch. Of course, you can question their motives behind moving to Saudi Arabia and the US in the latter stages of their career but they still put in the hard yards in every single performance and show they want to keep winning even now.
Who was your childhood sports hero and why? Which of their sporting achievements had the biggest impact on you?
Easily Richard Dunne. I grew up playing as a defender for my local team and wanted to be Dunne, who was the captain and leader at Manchester City. He won City’s Player of the Year award for four years in a row and had his heart on his sleeve every single time he entered the pitch during a period when we were pretty rubbish as a team, to say the least.
What sports team do you follow the closest? Is this a family team or local side etc, and what has been the biggest moment in your history of supporting this club?
I’ve been a Manchester City fan all my life so it’s been a rollercoaster, to say the least! My earliest memories of being a City fan are all very different to how they’ve been in recent times with the amount of success in the last decade or so just staggering.
The Aguero moment has to be the best in my time supporting the club. We wouldn’t be where we are now without Paul Dickov’s heroics against Gillingham. Yaya Toure’s FA Cup performances leading up to our first trophy in 35 years in 2011 run it close as does Rodri’s goal in Istanbul, but that Aguero goal was something else.
Is there a team manager from any sport, whether that be football, rugby, NFL, NBA etc, who you think demonstrated the best leadership qualities?
It’s hard not to talk about Pep Guardiola here. The way he’s led teams across Europe starting with that iconic Barcelona team through to Manchester City via Munich has been fantastic. For the players to play the way they do for him they have to fully buy into it and see him as the man to lead them and he does just that. His leadership is evident with what he has won in English football despite a first season that saw many write him off.
Pep himself learnt from Johan Cruyff who was influential both on and off the pitch and his coaching style still to this day is seen throughout Barcelona and Ajax. Guardiola has done similar with his style of play going through every age group at City and I feel like we’ve seen that Pep mentality throughout English football since his period of dominance began. We’re seeing teams in League Two playing out from the back every week and using their goalkeepers more and it’s no coincidence.
What sports tournament do you think consistently provides the biggest thrills? Which moment from this league stood out to you the most in recent memory?
The Ashes. Those iconic moments are second to none when it comes to massive test games against Australia and the big individual efforts that we see. The lows can be some of the lowest you’ll see in sport, but the highs are out of this world.
The Ben Stokes innings at Headingley is one of the greatest there has ever been. The drama of it all, the Jack Leach 1 not out. If you’ve not been to an Ashes Test Match then try and do it, it really is something to tick off the bucket list.
If you could travel back in time to any historic sporting moment to watch it then and now, which would it be and why?
The 1966 World Cup Final. It’s the iconic match in English football history, isn’t it? Imagine something like that happening now. The country would come to a standstill. I hope we see it soon.
If you could go out for dinner with any sporting figure, current or historical, who would it be and what would you want to learn from them?
Daniel Ricciardo. I’m still gutted about him being dropped by Red Bull and feel like he’d be an absolute champ to have a beer with. The high performance he’s had to have consistently throughout his career is so interesting and I’m sure he’d have a lot of stories about Formula One which I’d love to hear.
To read the last edition of the Matchday Programme, featuring sports writer Andy Davies, who reflected on his childhood sports hero, Steven Gerrard, click HERE.
