I WON’T PEP DOWN UNTIL IT’S A SLEEP YEAR
Guardiola will stay until energy crisis
BY JEREMY CROSS
PEP GUARDIOLA will quit football once it tires him out.
But the Etihad boss insists he will not drop the bombshell on his Manchester City players without discussing the decision first.
Guardiola is showing no signs of slowing down despite collecting 10 trophies since arriving at the Etihad back in 2016 after three years at Bayern Munich.
The Spaniard, who turned 51 last week, is on course to win his fourth Premier
League title with
City 11 points clear at the top of the table after their 1-0 defeat of title rivals
Chelsea last week.
Guardiola, who has a contract at the
Etihad until 2023, knows he has a job for life at City if he wants one, with chairman Khaldoon
Al Mubarak already dreading the day his manager tells him he is leaving.
The former Barcelona boss admits he doesn’t know how long he will continue – and insists he will walk out on football altogether only when he loses his drive.
The City gaffer, who took a sabbatical from the game after leaving Barcelona in 2012, said: “I don’t know how long I will go on but right now I feel good and comfortable. When I’m no longer energetic and feel a little bit drained or tired, I’m pretty sure I will quit then. But right now I feel good.”
Guardiola, whose side travel to Southampton tonight, said he will consult his City paymasters before deciding when to stand down. He said: “I won’t think about the future when I have still the contract I have.
“My future always depends on results but I’m not concerned. I’m good here, comfortable. They have given me everything and I like to work with these players.
“I’ll rest a little bit, then at the end of the season we’ll see what happens. My decision will be taken with the club. They gave me everything so I cannot betray them, or do anything wrong to them. That would not be nice.
“Together we took decisions to come here and to extend the contract two times – and it will be the same now. It depends how they feel about me, how I feel myself at the club.
“I never think for 24 hours a day what is going to happen in the future. In football, the end of the season is far, far away.”
City have revenge on the menu tonight - back in September Ralph Hasenhuttl’s Saints held them to a shock 0-0 draw at the Etihad.