2 managers past their prime is nothing close to hiring peak pep or Enrique. Frustrates me when people try and say we've tried the top managers, we really haven't. Thing is, even a past Jose is the best manager we've had since Fergie
Pep Guardiola | Leaving City: Official
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But who’s to say Enrique will be top dog in a couple of years?
Mourinho only won the league with Chelsea a year prior to us getting him, it’s not like it was 2026 Jose who rocked up at United.
It's quite possible but if you think about it, there isn't a team in the world Pep cannot walk into right now if he wanted, except due to fan rivalry etc (and maybe PSG). Their owners basically have infinite state backed funding and the ability to masquerade it as legitimate business revenue. Their team is worse off now than it was when they won their (hopefully soon to be stripped away) treble, but it's still a major force in the PL and Europe with players willing to fight with their clubs to join City to play under Pep. No other manager can guarantee this level of continued performance or talent pull. Why would they go for Maresca if they wanted Pep out given these circumstances, unless Pep suggested it himself, knowing he wants out?
Fair play to Barney
That's a fecking two footed lunge to his head top
It's funny how Pep is off, and then there's more subtle digs in the media about the charges in a few days than I can remember seeing in the last few years.
Barney Ronay having a dig above, and the Telegraph went with this headline & opening line the other day.
And the BBC's headline the other day -
Barney Ronay having a dig above, and the Telegraph went with this headline & opening line the other day.
The 115 reasons why Arsenal toppling Man City is good for football
Premier League triumph was rooted in football’s fundamentals and will not come with an asteriskAnd the BBC's headline the other day -
Could history be rewritten? Guardiola, Man City and the 115 charges
Will not come with an asterisk, yeah sure. Total immunity granted from red cards and penalties v financial doping and cooking the books.
Hopefully the results of the charges do finally come at the end of this season, almost certainly then be an appeal which will drag it out even longer though.
I know all the City rivalry and all that but he needs to take some time off. Something is going on behind the scenes where he doesn’t look right. Could be the drug use or falling in with the wrong crowd. It’s been going on for a while.
For his sake, I hope he leaves and just works on himself.
For his sake, I hope he leaves and just works on himself.
You've got the hand it to Barney, not only does he talk about the charges, but also the sportswashing aspect to the ownership.
He also mentions Sky Sports, which just about sums up how they want to tackle the subject.
"On Sky Sports, Micah Richards, also a club employee, discussed Pep’s departure in the awed, tearful tones of a man being forced to confront the death of his beloved pet rabbit. "
You say that but is it true? Football has changed, almost all clubs now have a head coach with way less pedigree and influence + much more power lies with the DoF in most cases. Even at City, is it coincidence that Txixi announced he was leaving and Pep hasn't won a title since?
Yep, he's fooling around with the guys at the back of the school shed. I've heard that one or two of them have been caught smoking.
Whatever he does next he won't be breaking the habit of a lifetime and taking on a challenge. If there's a team anywhere in the world already highly successful and with more resource than any competitor - he'll want that job. He'll probably sign on as PSG manager shortly before 6:30 next weekend so he can walk in and lift the trophy at the end.
If they’re found guilty, can we please crowd fund a giant asterisk banner, that we just slowly unfurl and covers the whole Stretford End.
I love this idea.
I wonder where he'll actually end up. Spain is basically Barca only and they're skint, he won't go somewhere else in England, PSG have themselves covered for good successful manager, Bayern too. I wonder if he fancies one of the Italian teams or International management?
"Welcome to *" billboards
I know you are referring to financial doping.
But I most say that it had slipped by me that he had failed two drug tests in Italy while he was a player early in his career. Later cleared of charges due to a technicality around testing procedures.
I have a feeling he's not quite done at Barcelona
England if Tuchel bombs.
'Barney' talks about it, perhaps, but he and quite a few others don't focus on it (or Abramovich) to the extent they should.
Essentially complicit in it being normalised.
Wouldn't mind it
I don’t think he’s a good fit for England. Would be better if he manages the US.
Why? What’s in it for him?
God, guns, and glory.
Haha. I don’t think he’s the type.
Assuming he’d be a disgraced manager out of Europe and on hard times, what better place to revive one’s image than the US? It’s a classic American story. We’re more corrupt and better at it. There’s a lot of potential.
Think that chapter is over for him but could be wrong. He was a younger, hungry manager with Messi spearheading it all. Going back now would be a big come down from those days, just can't see it. Leave that legacy intact.
Great 10 years at City. And it's been a long period. Klopp also stayed for 8,5 years. Then you have Fergie who stayed around for 26,5 years and ended it with PL title. Wenger only close to him in terms of longevity but last significant thing was Invincibles in 2004 or CL final in 2006.
On Pep: don't think there's many clubs left for him to manage. Perhaps PSG in France, Barca again in Spain or Juve in Italy. Plus few national teams like Italy, Spain.
On Pep: don't think there's many clubs left for him to manage. Perhaps PSG in France, Barca again in Spain or Juve in Italy. Plus few national teams like Italy, Spain.
Yeah, if something comes of the 115 then that’s probably true.
My guess is that he takes a little time off, goes into international management somewhere for at least one big tournament, and then makes a dramatic return to either Barcelona or City in 2-3 years but is sort of washed by then.
I'd be surprised if he goes into international management to be honest. Partly because he can't just add the best 3 players to his squad every 6 months but also because I think he'd get bored quickly. Strikes me as a guy who has to stay busy.
He can go to Italy just for teh sake of it, I think many NTs would be more than glad to have him as head coach and even more perhaps to involve him with some overall NT Program that also tackles scouting, youngsters, etc.
PD: BTW what are you doing making this post in a sea of bitterness?
Pep at City is like the Monopoly study where they decided at the start of the game who was rich and who was poor, by flipping a coin. The rich player started with twice as much money and rolled two dice instead of one. Instead of realizing that this created an unbeatable advantage, the rich players attribute their success to their skill and strategy, and not to the fundamental imbalance. The PL rules tried to keep things level, but City skirted those rules 135 times, and people think their success is not down to simply buying two full teams of the best players available. feck off, Pep. I hope they void and cancel every trophy you won in England.
https://studenttheses.universiteitleiden.nl/access/item:2661526/view
https://studenttheses.universiteitleiden.nl/access/item:2661526/view
I think this has been fascinating.
City have circumvented the rules and state ownership shouldn’t be allowed for a multitude of reasons. It does tarnish any success they’ve had and doesn’t reflect well on Pep.
All that said, he’s still a brilliant football manager. For all we can moan about what they’ve spent, officially or unofficially, the reason most of their transfers have worked is that they’re playing under a very good football manager who makes players better. Let’s be honest, if we’d signed Akanji for £15m from Dortmund, he’d have wound up shit for us, not a treble winner.
F**k City, f**k Pep, but he’s still been bloody good at his job. Dealt the best hand but also played it well.
No arguments on the first two!
Find it kind of cowardly. Didnt have the balls to say this while he was still in the job.
From Barney's column:
The charges may well be waved aside, leaving only righteous glory. But we still have the very real point that this is all being done in the service of a nation state. For some reason a country owns an English football club. And the UAE is not a neutral entity. Its presence in sport is a propaganda project, a way of making you think about football rather than dwelling on, for example, the very recent accusation by 65 Yemeni human-rights organisations of the UAE’s complicity in killings, detention and torture. This is what states do. The UK and Nato are constantly engaged in theatres of suffering around the world. But we’re talking about the owner of a football club here, about Guardiola’s employers, a regime that is openly manipulating the cultural attachment of football fans.
These factors do not discredit Pep’s legacy. They are his legacy. They tell us about football and the world, about the overclass and the power of spectacle. But this also doesn’t have to happen. Or if it does, it doesn’t need to be left unremarked, as though it isn’t material to the noise and colour. It affects its host body, too. It robs it of something. There is a basic coldness to City’s success. From the moment Abu Dhabi took over it was inevitable the club would win the Champions League, just as we already knew Guardiola was the greatest coach in the world, that hiring his precooked brains trust would guarantee success. This is a straight line equation: money plus talent equals victory. What does it really tell us, if anything, about sport, talent, opportunity, Manchester?
The charges may well be waved aside, leaving only righteous glory. But we still have the very real point that this is all being done in the service of a nation state. For some reason a country owns an English football club. And the UAE is not a neutral entity. Its presence in sport is a propaganda project, a way of making you think about football rather than dwelling on, for example, the very recent accusation by 65 Yemeni human-rights organisations of the UAE’s complicity in killings, detention and torture. This is what states do. The UK and Nato are constantly engaged in theatres of suffering around the world. But we’re talking about the owner of a football club here, about Guardiola’s employers, a regime that is openly manipulating the cultural attachment of football fans.
These factors do not discredit Pep’s legacy. They are his legacy. They tell us about football and the world, about the overclass and the power of spectacle. But this also doesn’t have to happen. Or if it does, it doesn’t need to be left unremarked, as though it isn’t material to the noise and colour. It affects its host body, too. It robs it of something. There is a basic coldness to City’s success. From the moment Abu Dhabi took over it was inevitable the club would win the Champions League, just as we already knew Guardiola was the greatest coach in the world, that hiring his precooked brains trust would guarantee success. This is a straight line equation: money plus talent equals victory. What does it really tell us, if anything, about sport, talent, opportunity, Manchester?
Better late than never. It’s good to see some honesty from the mainstream press.