Guardiola: Barca would have sacked me
City manager feels lucky to keep job after struggle Seven arrivals lined up in summer overhaul
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 would be ousted if he blew 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,” Guardiola said. “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. Definitely. 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.”
City will guarantee qualification for next season’s Champions League if they beat West Bromwich Albion at the Etihad this evening and Arsenal drop points at home against relegated Sunderland, although the likelihood is the scramble for the top four will go down to the final day, when Guardiola’s side are at Watford.
Eighteen points adrift of titlewinners Chelsea, eliminated from the Champions League at the round-of-16 stage, beaten in the FA Cup semi-finals 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 Barcelona 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 at Barcelona or Bayern. But he accepted City’s 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,” Guardiola said.
“The gap is big in terms of points [to Chelsea], but when we played against them, it’s not too big and we are going to shorten it next season.
“I am not here alone. It looks like when everything happens and it’s not good you can change the manager, my friends, so it’s not so complicated. If you want to put pressure on me and say next season we have to win or if not – I knew that before I arrived here.”
Guardiola is likely to sign up to seven new players in the summer as part of a huge overhaul of the squad.
The Catalan said yesterday that City had not been clinical or solid enough, particularly against physical, long-ball teams, but suggested he felt “the quality of our players is quite enough to have been better” than they were.
Meanwhile, Guardiola has dismissed claims by Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger that the likes of West Brom and Watford have little left to play for. “I don’t understand how the managers speak for the other clubs,” Guardiola said. “He plays against Everton and Sunderland, no? Both teams are done, no?”
It was announced last night that City will take on Manchester United in Houston on Thursday, July 20, as part of the International Champions Cup. It will be the first ever overseas Manchester derby.