PEP PUTS DOWN ROOTS FOR A LONG REIGN
PREMIER LEAGUE Blues boosted as boss buys family pad in city
PEP GUARDIOLA is putting down roots as he lays foundations for a period of dominance in Manchester.
City bosses would like to keep Guardiola for the next decade or more and watch him build a dynasty at the Etihad.
Chairman Khaldoon Al-Mubarak will open talks with the Spaniard about a new and improved contract in June.
It remains to be seen if Guardiola will still be working his magic at City in 10 years – he is known to get bored and constantly seek new challenges.
But he has given his clearest indication yet that he is in it for the long haul by buying a luxurious city centre apartment for him and his family.
It is close to the Manchester Arena, where a terrorist bombing in May killed 22 people.
But it hasn’t stopped Guardiola from immersing himself in the Manchester culture and he is often spotted mingling with diners at the nearby Salvis Mozzarella Bar & Restaurant as well as visiting the theatre.
This is in stark contrast to rival Jose Mourinho, who has refused to buy a place in the city since taking charge of Manchester United at the same time.
He has been living in a suite in the Lowry Hotel that the club pay for and has often been overhead complaining about how much he misses his family who are still based in London.
Guardiola appears to be the happier boss, both on and off the pitch, and he said: “It’s good. I bought an apartment because I have to live somewhere, and I’m happy to live in the city.
“It happened the same when I was a player at Roma, at Brescia and in Munich. I prefer to live in the city and be with the people.
“It happened the same in
Munich, where I bought an apartment. And my commitment was the same last season, when we didn’t win.
“It looks a higher commitment now because we are winning, but the commitment last season was the same.”
The similarities between his time in Munich and Manchester don’t start and end with just his living arrangements.
As Bayern boss Guardiola rode roughshod over his domestic opponents, going on a record 19-game winning strike en route to winning the Bundesliga title.
He is repeating the remarkable feat in the Premier League and can equal his winning run from Germany with another victory at Crystal Palace tomorrow.
It is more a question of how many records City will break this season instead of which ones, but Guardiola insists the history books will mean nothing unless his side win trophies.
Guardiola, who could have Vincent Kompany back at Selhurst Park, added: “Always here we talk about the numbers and records.
“That’s a consequence of what we do on the pitch. But I’m not here to comment on the record, because it’s simple to say yes or no, do we break it or not.
“That is not what counts. What counts is what we have to do against Palace and their four amazing strikers.
React
“What I have to be concerned about over the next few hours is to win another game, and after that we will see. Sooner or later we will drop points and we’ll see how we react in that moment.
“We cannot compare (to Bayern) because we were there three years in Munich. Now it’s my second season here and we haven’t won one title.
“We are behind those two clubs (Bayern and Barcelona) – and not just in terms of titles.
“It’s just about being calm and focusing on what we have to do on Sunday. That’s my only concern.”