Pep Guardiola’s new contract is good news for English football
He has transformed our game and his influence will continue even if Manchester City withdraw from the Premier League.
Pep Guardiola’s new contract is good news for English football. He changed our game and his influence will continue even if Manchester City are relegated to the Premier League
He may not be in the boardrooms of Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge, Anfield or the Emirates today, but it is good news for the Premier League and English football as a whole.
Another two years for Pep Guardiola, the most influential manager of modern times. There can only be good things.
England has long been full of great foreign managers, and the wealth and prestige of the Premier League has risen like a giant golden ball over the past two decades. Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Louis van Gaal, Antonio Conte, Roberto Mancini, Rafa Benitez, Jurgen Klopp.
Some people have roamed our green fields many times wearing colorful clothes. But in the end it all happened. They came, they won (some of them) and then they left. Not Guardiola.
After more than a decade at Manchester City, the great Catalan has revolutionized our game. How to play, practice, watch and discuss. Guardiola has left a lasting mark on coaches in this country. Why wouldn’t you want to stay a while? Nobody plays football like City in the Premier League. Surprisingly, it is now available. They have lost four in a row ahead of Saturday’s home game against Tottenham at the Etihad. This makes the timing of the news more relevant.
City know Guardiola will soon find his feet. This season is the same, this season is the same and next season is the same. Once again, Guardiola’s City have been a team that has been setting the standard for some time.
Guardiola’s imagination, intelligence and murderous passion can be found not only in his 18 trophies but also in the footballing bones of great players such as Phil Foden, John Stones, Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva.
Under Guardiola, very good players became great players. We see it all over the landscape. Eco and stolen principles. Football that others try.
Some succeed, some don’t. In the Premier League and beyond. We can see Guardiola’s immediate influence at Arsenal and Chelsea under former City managers Mikel Arteta and Enzo Maresca, but further afield at Fabian Hutzel’s Brighton and even Russell Martin’s Southampton. In last season’s Championship, Wayne Rooney called on Birmingham’s defenders to play like they did at City.
It didn’t work, but he tried. Asked on Gary Neville’s podcast what job he would like to have in football, former Manchester United captain Rooney said he would like to be Guardiola’s assistant.
Some are not fans of Guardiola’s monopoly on the Premier League. They have won the last four titles. City is still locked in a dispute with the league over allegations of financial fraud. 115 of them have been removed. If they lose this match, they could end up playing in the lower division. Guardiola could leave.
But to dismiss Guardiola’s work on these grounds is completely wrong. Secretly, accountants are geniuses, whether they do or not.
Should City eventually dominate the Premier League, their modern success will always come with an asterisk. However, the influence of Guardiola’s methods and ideology still remains. They are fundamental.
These things do not live or die in dusty, dark courtrooms. They breathe air where it is needed. In the grass.
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