Pep Guardiola is currently enduring his toughest spell in management, with Manchester City in the middle of a slump which has seen them plummet down the Premier League table.
The reigning champions are in seventh place, having won just one of their last eight matches. Their disastrous form has raised questions over Guardiola’s future at the Etihad Stadium despite the 53-year-old signing a new two-year deal last month.
At this point, there is nothing to suggest that club chiefs are thinking about appointing a new manager. However, it remains to be seen whether things will change if City fall even further away from the Premier League’s top four.
Resignation message after Barcelona
Guardiola is not known to be a quitter when the going gets tough, but even the fabled Spaniard has limits. He left Barcelona in 2012 after winning every available trophy, a spell of generational success which came at a cost.
Eventually, their form began to falter and Guardiola admitted that he knew he had to leave after losing the ability to motivate his players.
In an interview with Audi back in 2014, he said: “We were incredibly successful. Winning 14 trophies in only four years was the greatest period in the club’s history.
“But, gradually, I found it more and more difficult to motivate myself and to motivate the team. That is when you know it is time to walk away.”
Verdict on Man City future
Guardiola may have changed his tune in the years since leaving Barcelona, insisting earlier this year that he is determined to stick with City even in a worst-case scenario.
In a press conference, he was asked what he would do if City are found guilty of breaking financial rules and kicked out of the Premier League.
He replied: “I will be here. I don’t know the position of the conference they’re going to bring us, we’re going to come up and come up, we’re going to come back to the Premier League. I knew it then, I feel it now.”
Guardiola later refused to rule out the possibility of stepping down if it becomes clear that his position is no longer tenable.
“I’m not naive enough to think I am going to stay because we have a contract or what we have done in the past,” he said. “Maybe in a month I am not here if the situation is not going well. We have to do it again.”
Next job after Man City
It seems clear that Guardiola will not manage another club side, citing his fading energy levels in an interview with Desmontadito a few weeks ago.
“I’m not going to leave to go to another country [for a club],” he said. “I won’t have the energy. Now I’m still here, but to think about starting again, the whole process of training… no, no.”
An international job may still appeal to him, though. He added: “That’s different. It’s not every day [training] and every three days [playing]. I think I would have to stop [from the daily cycle].
“To rest, to see what we have done, what we can do better, because day-to-day we don’t have much time to rest. It’s continuous and to rest I think would be good for me, but right now, no. Right now I’m here [at City].”
Express
