PEP DEFIANT
I am completely honest. Of course I trust the club and what they’ve done. We try to do things the right way
FOR Pep Guardiola, it won’t quite be the same. Not for a short while anyway. The glorious football played by his team will temporarily come with an asterix against it. This is what happens when controversy calls. The landscape changes, judgement is paused and perspectives shift.
Those in blue who come to support their team in the Champions League tonight will maybe turn a blind eye to the outpouring of information from Der Spiegel in Germany. Others will not.
Is it a scandal of real sporting depth? If every dot and comma of what allege is true then this is certainly travelling down that road. So far City — as indignant as they may be about the investigators’ motives and practices — have not issued a formal denial.
Yesterday Guardiola found himself as an unwitting mouthpiece for his club. Among the gentle half-volleys and underarms of routine football questions, the City coach took three on the more pressing issue of the day.
Some coaches would not have answered. He was not obliged to and this stuff is above even his pay grade. But Guardiola made his points candidly and was then encouraged to move on.
‘The club has made a statement on Friday about what happened, stolen emails,’ he said. ‘Of course I trust the club and what they have done. Of course we want to follow the rules.
‘I’m completely honest, I don’t know what happened. I’m a manager, focused on the pitch, the locker room. ‘I’m completely out of how we handle this situation. I’m part of the club, I support the club. We want to do what we have to do in terms of the rules.’
Here, Guardiola unwittingly reached the very heart of this matter in that he touched upon the core issue of honesty.
Understandably and correctly, he pointed out that this is not his fight. But in saying that he trusts in the integrity of his employer, how can he be so sure? How can he really be sure at all?
In terms of his team, he insisted that nothing has changed. City have, he argued, long been talked about in terms of the depth of the club’s player investment. As such, they are used to it and rather immune to it.
But this, it was put to him, is different. This is not just about spending. It is about the alleged sharp practice that has enabled that spending to routinely take place on such a vast scale.
And this is where this murky business impacts directly on Guardiola and his players and all they have done so far. What good is glory if it is not sought within the boundaries of fair play?
‘If people say it (success) is just about money we accept it, but that point of view is completely wrong,’ stressed Guardiola.
‘We work a lot in a good way and that’s why I always defend us — especially my players — and what we do.
‘In terms of us being undermined, opinions are free. In the end we focus on what we have to do on the pitch. I think for the last decade people say we just win because we have money, not because of other good things.
‘That is an issue that always stays here. To achieve a certain level you need time and money.
‘When I was at Barcelona and in Germany, always I hear that Manchester City has just money. So we have to live with it.
‘But I am inside the club now and I would say of course there is money here. But they’re an incredible club, people working here, how professional they are with all the marketing and other departments. They are very professional and they try to do things in the right way.’
What is not known is Guardiola’s view on Financial Fair Play as a concept.
There was no time to ask him. All he can do now is endeavour to nudge his team towards another bewitching performance, this time against Shakhtar Donetsk tonight.
If there is one thing that can turn attention back to where you want it to be in sport then it is excellence on the field of play. The way football works tells us that the smell around this story will not stick around for ever, especially if the authorities are not minded to look into it themselves.
So it is likely that Guardiola, their gifted and gilded coach, will be the one to pull City clear of this mess, even if it takes a little time. As commercialism and greed has changed the face of football over the last two or three decades, one thing has never been more clear. The best thing about football has always been the football itself.