Pep is grateful soul

PEP Guardiola says he would have been sacked by Barcelona or Bayern Munich if his first season at either of those clubs had been as disappointing as his debut campaign with Manchester City.

But Guardiola also conceded that his struggles had left him with no margin for error at City next season and that he will be ousted if he blows a “second chance” to deliver success at the Etihad Stadium.

“At that club [Barcelona], if in six months you don’t win, you are really out,” said Guardiola.

“At Barcelona or Bayern Munich, there you have to win by far. If not, they don’t give you a second chance.

“Here [at City] they gave me a second chance and we will try to do it. In my situation at a big club – I’m sacked. I’m out. [For] sure.

“At the clubs I worked at before I am not here, but here we have a second chance and we will try to do it better than this season.”

There is a real likelihood that the scramble for the top four will go down to the final day, when Guardiola’s side are at Watford.

Fifteen points adrift of title winners Chelsea, eliminated from the Champions League at the round of 16 stage, beaten in the FA Cup semifinals and out of the League Cup at the second hurdle, this is the first season in Guardiola’s gilded managerial career that he has failed to win a trophy.

By contrast, his first season at Barca ended with a treble of La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League and he won both the Bundesliga title and German Cup in his debut campaign with Bayern.

Guardiola joked that “you have the titles [headlines] for tomorrow in the newspaper, you are happy, eh?” after admitting he would not have survived a comparable first season at Barcelona or Bayern. But he accepted City’s Abu Dhabi paymasters would not tolerate another underwhelming campaign.

“If what happens next season is not going well, I’ll have one more year of [my] contract and if it’s not going well they [the City owners] are going to change manager,” said Guardiola.

Guardiola is likely to sign up to seven new players in the summer as part of a huge overhaul of the squad. — The Daily Telegraph