Pep Guardiola offers telling Uefa response in Manchester City’s time of need
There are times when Pep Guardiola can be the indecipherable polyglot, a manager whose football teams are famously fluent but whose thoughts emerge so quickly that the concepts can prove too complex for his audience. It can even be hard to determine precisely what he is saying. Not on this occasion, however.
Guardiola has rarely been more emphatic, more quotable, more blunt or more committed to Manchester City. A manager defined by the Champions League is set to stay at a club who, barring a successful appeal, will be banned from it until 2022. Guardiola will nevertheless honour his contract with City, which expires in 2021.
“If they don’t sack me, I will be here, no matter what happens,” he said. “I love this club, I like to be here, this is my club and I will be here.” The notion of Guardiola walking away, of him taking a second sabbatical, heading to Juventus or returning to the Nou Camp can be dismissed for now.
Barcelona, famously, was Guardiola’s club, the one he served as ball-boy and manager but which he rebuked after his declaration of loyalty to his English employers. City had felt more of a professional relationship than a deeper emotional connection. He had already vowed to stay on for next season, but that was before Uefa’s ruling on Friday. He was hired by his long-term allies Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain.
A friend in need is proving a friend indeed. “I want to stay, it is something special, more than the contract I have,” Guardiola added. “Why should I leave? I said before that I love this club and I like to be here so why should I leave, more than ever in this situation.”
He did not delve into the details of the situation, unlike Soriano, who rebuked the accusation that the club artificially inflated sponsorship deals. Nor did he touch on Financial Fair Play breaches or the accusations that City tried to deceive Uefa. “It is sensitive to talk about the legal action,” he said. “I am not a lawyer.” Part of the problem of football’s confused communications is that the manager is often the only mouthpiece, charged with answering questions about issues for which he is not responsible. Guardiola was not at the club in the period, between 2012 and 2016, when the offences – according to Uefa’s ruling – occurred.
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But he objected to the Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu’s vocal applauding of Uefa for banning City. “Don’t talk too loud, Barcelona,” he said. “That is my advice because everybody is involved in situations.” The world of football finances can be murky and City may not be alone in breaching Financial Fair Play.
The consequences could be considerable. If a ban stands, even in a shortened form, their budget will be reduced, their pulling power smaller, their ambitions postponed and their reputation dented. “Of course it will not be easy,” Guardiola said. Yet he pronounced himself confident, and it was a reference to a visit to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, not Saturday’s trip to Leicester. The reasons why City are so optimistic remain elusive, though Guardiola said: “I know a little about the reasons why and I support the club 100 percent. I trust what they told me.”
Yet he sought to reframe a tale of 21st century football, of power and secrecy, of global business and vast sums of money into a valiant quest for justice. “When someone believes he is right, he is going to fight to the end and that is what we are going to do,” he said. It is an incredible thing to fight for our people who support this club.” The echoes of a slogan may have been unwitting but “we fight to the end” was a chant given added resonance when their first modern-day league title was secured in the 94th minute of the final game of the season. Eight years after Sergio Aguero’s most famous goal, City are in a very different fight until a potentially bitter end, at least in the knowledge they have Guardiola in their corner.
