As managers have become merely coaches, two men stand out in the Premier League's upper echelons as examples of men with well-established power bases
Pep Guardiola recently boasted of enjoying more “power” at Manchester City than he has had at any of his previous clubs. In fact his power base was being prepared for about five years before his arrival.
Nobody could have been in any doubt as to City owner Sheikh Mansour’s intentions when CEO Ferran Soriano and director of football Txiki Begiristain came into the club in 2012.
The foundations were being put in place for Guardiola.