PEP: WHY I STILL FEAR THE AXE
Huge success, but insecure City boss says he’s not invincible ‘No club can sustain you if you don’t win in modern football’
PEP GUARDIOLA insists he is not invincible at Manchester City.
Guardiola, who guided City to a third successive title and the Treble last season, has revealed that he is driven by a fear of failure and feels he would not be immune to the sack if he allowed his standards to drop. The Catalan accepts he is fortunate to be backed to the hilt by an owner who has entrusted him to make City the dominant footballing force both at home and abroad, as well as a sporting director in Txiki Begiristain, who is a close friend as well as an ally in the transfer market. But he does not believe those factors have made him bullet-proof. Guardiola said: “I have never felt, since I was a football player or a manager, invincible or unbeatable. Never, ever. When I play in the cup against League One teams or Conference teams, I prepare the games like I always prepare the games.
“I am scared we are going to lose. I am worried. I feel that. Never, ever have I not felt it.
“When you win a lot, it is easier. No club can sustain you if you don’t win in modern football. Not even if they are your friends. Not even if they are close to you.
“Sometimes you have to reflect when you have a good result that you have this.
“But I am pretty convinced that it means a lot to have that stability in the team because the players know that things are not going to change too much.
We push each other a lot. I push a lot for my bosses and for my players. “They demand that I take good decisions and do good things – and I push them.” Guardiola has lifted the Premier League five times, but City finished third behind Chelsea and Tottenham in his first season at the helm. And there was a series of heartbreaking near misses in the Champions League before they finally became European champions in June. City travel to Stamford Bridge looking to bolster their bid to become the first club to win four successive titles. And, while Chelsea and rivals Manchester United have been paying a heavy price for constantly changing their manager, Guardiola explained how the structure at City makes them so formidable.
Guardiola said: “Everybody knows that results define managers, but in the bad moments how they support me, how they support my staff and everyone is the key secret. We are on the same path.
“I am talking about us. Sometimes they ask me about Manchester United, but I don’t know what happens there – or at Chelsea. I’d say, with all respect, I couldn’t care less.
“It is none of my business at all. I am pretty sure that they try to do their best.
“What I am talking about is what we have done.
“We have had bad moments. And in those moments it was, ‘OK, what can we do better?’. We have been stable as an organisation and as a club, not just as a football team.
“And this means a lot that the people at the top can organise this stability for the club.”