- Guardiola: I wouldn’t have stayed 10 years at City without the club’s extraordinary environment
- Man City boss cites player care, food, CEO matchday presence & Covid conduct as examples
- Guardiola’s comments come amid widespread speculation that he will leave the club this summer
Pep Guardiola has delivered one of the most revealing tributes to Manchester City as a club that he has ever given publicly, with his words reading very much like those of a man who is not going anywhere.
The comments came in Guardiola’s press conference on Friday ahead of Monday’s Premier League trip to Everton, prompted in part by recent remarks from former City defender Aymeric Laporte.
In a recent interview with Spanish newspaper Diario AS, Laporte said he “regretted leaving because I was at the best club in the world” and that “the way they take care of their players there is unique, you only realise it when you leave.”
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Guardiola used Laporte’s words as a springboard to speak at length about what makes Manchester City the club it is – and his answer touched on everything from the Player Care department to the club’s classy conduct with employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.
With reports suggesting Guardiola is likely to leave City this summer and a decision expected before the end of May, the 55-year-old’s words pointed firmly in the other direction.
I still have incredible energy to be here, says Pep
Guardiola began by referencing Laporte’s comments directly, using them to explain his own decade-long commitment to the club.
“Today Aymeric Laporte, that was another player that helped us incredibly a lot to understand what you have to do from behind, build-ups, committing, and this kind of stuff, in a newspaper in Spain said, ‘City is the best club in the world, you never realise how good they are, how incredibly organised until you leave’,” he said.
“That is the biggest compliment we can get; the players can leave and say that place was incredible. And I have the same feeling. I wouldn’t have been 10 years even with good titles or prizes if I don’t have an incredible environment. Now I still have incredible energy, still I’m so good to be here, coming here to work today on my day off.
“Of course we are here because we won a lot and that’s why they don’t fire you because they continue to trust you because you have success. Despite that, or part of that, the club is really, really extraordinary. And I loved when Gundo (Ilkay Gundogan) came back from Barcelona and said, ‘Man City is top’. When that happens, we are in a good way.
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“That’s why we are consistent, every year in the Champions League for the last 12, 13, 14 years, that’s why we’re always fighting for the titles, because they are consistent around the tactics, the systems, the players, the managers. It’s like a bubble that people feel good.”
Guardiola: No one can complain, not even once
Guardiola then went into specific detail about the elements of City’s infrastructure that he believes set the club apart, singling out the Player Care department by name.
“The Player Care department, for example,” the Catalan added. “I don’t know if it exists in other clubs, this department is unbelievable. Claire (Marsden, Head of First-Team Player Support), all the people, it’s unbelievable.
“That means you need something for the family, you need to send flowers to your mum or whatever, always they can help you. The food is exceptional, the cooks are top, I have my CEO, my chairman in the day of the game, they’re there, supporting all the time. It’s a big club, but here it’s a family.
“After that, there are disappointments, especially the play. But the only I say to the club, ‘Try to the players to be disappointed because they don’t play, not for the rest’. For the rest, no one can complain. No one. They don’t complain.
“Another one; in Covid time. How many in all around the world, in the clubs, how many people were fired or – I don’t know the right word in English. Here, not even once. The same salary, the same, no reduction, not even that. The same.
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“In the toughest moment in our lives, always there, not even once in that building and the other building was out – the same. Many examples. It’s really, really good. Extraordinary club.”
For a man whose future has been the subject of constant speculation in recent weeks, Guardiola’s words carry a weight that goes beyond a simple press conference answer.
Whether they represent a definitive hint that he is staying remains to be seen but they are not the words of someone counting down the days.
