I want Pep to succeed – but there are a few questions he must solve
I’M a huge fan of what Pep Guardiola is trying to achieve at City.
I grew up watching Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison’s freeflowing City team and was hugely influenced in my footballing affections by the Brazil teams of 1970 and 1982. Although I’m not a Barcelona supporter, I’ve hugely admired the teams Guardiola played in and coached.
I want to watch football that leaves me in awe and searching for superlatives to describe what I’ve enjoyed. While I love seeing my team win, as much as the next person, it’s not all about winning to me, it’s about being entertained.
I’m a dreamer, so I want Pep to succeed more than any coach I’ve seen at City, but despite being an idealist – and there are lots of Blues who share my views – at this stage I do have questions which are unresolved.
Creativity and attacking is the sexy part of the game.
All the top earners and superstars are creators and goalscorers but my fear is that Pep’s weakness, and indeed the flaw in the philosophy, is a lack of flexibility - some call it a Plan B - and a defence lacking strength and even cynicism on occasions.
The Brazil team of 1982 with Eder, Socrates and Zico were the ‘best team’ in the tournament, but were eliminated by a counterattacking, defensive team in Italy.
Vincent Kompany, at the moment, is the glue that holds City’s defence together.
If he stays fit, City should win the Premier League this season, and I believe that if Guardiola had secured the services of those two elusive summer signings - Alexis Sanchez and Jonny Evans - he could have almost guaranteed the title coming back to the Etihad Stadium this campaign.
As a new columnist in the M.E.N., I think it only right I introduce myself properly.
I’ve been a professional sports journalist since 1994 and before that I’d done some freelance work and dabbled in broadcasting, commentating and writing on a mainly voluntary basis.
At heart, though, I am a City fan. I’ve attended more than 2,000 City games during my life, many more youth, reserve, women’s and friendly matches, plus well over a thousand games not involving any City team. My wife calls me obsessed; she’s probably right! I started travelling to City games on the notorious Football Specials (charter trains) in the 1970s and 80s, and became a steward, selling pies, butties and drinks to fellow fans to help keep my costs down. The turning point came when Luton Town banned away fans and my only way in was thanks to a press pass obtained via the hospital radio station where I was volunteering.
I got the bug, and more vigorously pursued my boyhood dream of commentating on City, which by 2001, and throughout all the drama of the last few years, I’ve been lucky enough to call my job.
I left the BBC during the summer of 2017 and I am now looking for new ways of living that dream, so I have a Tuesday Night radio show on XS Manchester, a fast growing Youtube channel called ‘Forever Blue’ on which I post City vlogs and, excitingly, a new column with the M.E.N., a newspaper I’ve read, in black and white (and pink), all my life.
I aim to be honest and fair in my writing, just like I am, and have been, during my broadcasting years. I’m looking forward to sharing my passion for the Blues.