the appointment of a barcelona coach is always footballs biggest talking point even if its usually a relatively unknown name that goes on to prowl the touchlines and into our consciousness there is always greater interest in a coach than the players the club signs the reason is simple a barca coachs appointment places tactical nous and attacking philosophy over any other consideration and despite increasingly governed by big money a defiant football world still looks to them to show the way the appointment of gerardo martino reflects a continuity of the same ideal tata martino hails from newell old boys club in argentinas rosario a town that lionel messi too belongs to and a club that he was probably destined to end up playing for professionally had barca never happened but theres more to martino than just the messi link voted as the bestever player in the clubs history the 50yearold owes his coaching ethos to this lesseracclaimed footballing subculture that is far removed from the glare of european football but deep enough to be thought suitable for barca while conspiracy theorists are bound to revel in the scenario of an argentina coach around the same time the club has signed a highprofile terribly exciting brazilian there is thought to the move and it throws up significant aspects one barca are looking towards south america for the propagation of their own philosophy of possession football it is a clear departure from their previous famed loyalty towards the dutch whose ideology can be credited with starting it all in the first placepep guardiola it was said suckled at the teat of johan cruyff implying how he lapped up all that the great dutchman offered by way of tactics and ideas this time it is different and it stems from the former coachs thirst for footballing mores from other lesserknown but likeminded lands guardiola may have left for bayern bench but it is the barcelona institutions willingness to imbibe his learnings that makes the martino appointment a landmark one in a way barcelona could have signed on a south american guardiola martino is the star disciple of marcelo bielsa the famed argentine football philosopher and romantic and it is at bielsas feet that barcas recent past and coming future meet bielsa hails martino as the vital cog in his newell coaching spell in the 1990s in return martino owes all that he knows to the innovative coach fondly called el loco by his fans in short tata embodied el locos touchline philosophies on the newell pitch and it gave birth to the bielsista the bielsa school of football it was an attacking pressing elaboratelyplanned style seductive enough to attract guradiola as he travelled to latin america in 2005 and 2006 to learn more about tactics and coaching playing his last pro football in mexico alongside mentor juan lillo guardiola travelled to rosario to meet bielsa and the two men reportedly spent 11 straight hours discussing football and related philosophies