‘I like to think my vibe will be there for ever’: Guardiola bids his farewells

Manchester City’s manager turned on the charm as he faced the media in his last pre-match press conference

He might ponder how long it will take for the England manager’s job to become available

23 May 2026 - THE GUARDIAN / Sport

Will Unwin

Pep Guardiola cracked a joke about fielding questions on facing Aston Villa as he entered the room. But after more than 1,100 press conferences in 10 years at Manchester City he knew this one was never going to be normal, requiring him to run through the past decade in half an hour. He has been building up to this for a while, the end nigh for weeks, the energy levels depleted and a break needed, especially from journalists.

Guardiola recently revealed that John Stones experienced great relief after announcing he would be leaving City and the manager was embracing the same feelings. There was plenty of emotion initially, Guardiola admitting his leaving speech to the players earlier in the day was “a disaster”. Finding the right words in these situations was never going to be easy. It does feel at times as if City is the club Guardiola built. “I like to think my vibe and energy will be there for ever,” he said.

Much had happened before Guardiola finally stepped into the media theatre in a black hoodie at 1.30pm. Confirmation of his exit arrived at 11.12am and less than an hour and a half later came the announcement that Guardiola was staying permanently, in the form of the newly expanded North Stand being named in his honour.

City’s chair, Khaldoon al-mubarak, had told Guardiola that news on a whirlwind morning and Guardiola learned of his soonto-be erected statue only when a journalist told him. He fears being covered in bird poo. The pose is yet to be confirmed, but arms outstretched could be top of the list.

Oasis were referenced in his composed leaving letter for the fans, because Guardiola is an honorary Mancunian. He talked emotionally of the 2017 Manchester Arena attacks, when his family were at the venue. The Catalan used (almost) the words of the Manchester poet Tony Walsh: “This is my place.” Few would question him. Manchester and Guardiola have been changed by their symbiotic relationship. The increase in tapas restaurants cannot be a coincidence and Stockport County would never have had such an esteemed visitor for a League One game. But as Guardiola said: “Nothing is eternal.”

The rainy days will not be missed, and no longer hearing questions over the charges City face will be a relief, but Guardiola knows it will be hard to be apart. The rest is needed. “This is the time,” he said. Tiredness does take over after such a relentless calendar stretching back to 2016. How can anyone cope for that long with the travel and demands of one of football’s most intense jobs?

The majority of back-andforths with journalists this season have involved: “I still have a year remaining on my contract” or “Are you trying to get rid of me?” The denials kept everyone secondguessing, to some extent, but it has felt inevitable that his departure would come at the end of this season. Nothing was discussed about Enzo Maresca or what comes next for City. This was Pep’s day.

Guardiola was on form, enjoying his final pre-match audience, one hanging on every word, not wanting to miss a line. He extended an invitation to Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher to have a beer, something he will have plenty of time for. The friendship with the City fan Noel Gallagher arose once more, Guardiola recalling Gallagher telling him: “We were a team not able to win four games in a row; now we are going for four Premier Leagues in a row.” But only one of them will know about the Peter Swales era. Without City, the two may have never crossed paths, and Guardiola knows both parties are lucky.

Guardiola gave the impression he may become a hermit, seeking anonymity after a lifetime in the limelight. There has been very little stop since the 55-year-old started his playing career. He will retreat, desperate to play more golf in warmer climes, drink wine, see his children and ponder how long it will take for the England manager’s job to become available.

There was a round of applause at the culmination of a press conference elongated to fit in as many questions as possible. Guardiola was whisked away for his rights-holder duties but he booked in drinks with the media, a chance to share their appreciation for one another. Wine and charcuterie were offered, some people received hugs, everyone got at least a handshake and Guardiola offered criticism of the British rail network. This journalist was told: “You are the hardest one of all the people to understand. Not a word,” followed by a brief heartfelt impression. It’s good to know you’ve made an impact on someone who will go down in history.

Speeches were exchanged and Pep-branded caps given out to those with the largest heads. A photo was taken outside, Guardiola insisting it be taken on the pitch. He was at his most relaxed, speaking openly, no need to keep the guard up. Next week he will be on a beach, after turning down the offer of playing in the annual match between the media and City staff.

“It’s been the experience of my life,” was Guardiola’s first answer. Every City supporter – and plenty of journalists – will feel the same.

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City coach’s revolutions have changed English game

The feeling when he arrived in 2016 was Guardiola had a lot to learn about the English game

23 May 2026 - THE GUARDIAN / Sport

Jonathan Wilson

When Pep Guardiola arrived in English football in the summer of 2016, there was a degree of scepticism. The quality of the football produced by his Barcelona had been extraordinary – and it’s perhaps difficult now, 18 years on, to remember the impact that side had when they first emerged, how incomprehensible the focus on passing and the manipulation of space seemed.

But his Bayern Munich had not won the Champions League and it was reasonable enough to ask whether that very precise, technically accomplished style would be as effective amid the hurly-burly of an English winter as it had been in Spain and Germany.

After a fine start, City fell away in the autumn. Then, at the beginning of December, away to the reigning champions, Leicester, they went 3-0 down inside 20 minutes. Jamie Vardy claimed a hat-trick as City, despite having 78% of the ball, were ripped apart on the counter and lost 4-2. Guardiola sounded almost bemused afterwards. “The second balls is a concept that is typical here in England when they talk a lot about the tackles,” he said. “I am not a coach for the tackles so I don’t train the tackles.”

The feeling then was Guardiola had a lot to learn about the English game and he would have to change. And perhaps there has been some evidence of that, but Guardiola revolutionised the English game before it shaped him.

Go down the divisions, to the ninth and 10th tiers and watch football. This used to be the game in its rawest, least sophisticated form, physical, direct and played in thick mud for half the year. Yet now it’s common, almost the default, for sides to take goal-kicks short, to pass out from the back.

Talk to a coach at that level and they’ll tell you that kids simply grow up playing that way, in part because that’s what they see on television and think football looks like, and in part because surfaces are so much better than two or three decades ago.

But pitch technology always underlaid Guardiola’s vision. Once pitches improved to the point a first touch could be taken almost for granted, the player receiving possession could focus less on controlling the ball than on deciding what they were going to do with it. The game became more strategic, more about the manipulation of shape and structure to create space. That was the key to Guardiola’s football and, while the English game was been more resistant than that of La Liga or the Bundesliga, the model was no less valid.

The money helped, of course. Manchester City would not have been as dominant without the vast resources of Abu Dhabi. Until the outstanding Premier League charges, which City deny, are resolved there will always be a question mark.

The widespread adoption of the Guardiola style was facilitated by the changes to youth coaching brought about by the Premier League’s elite player performance plan (2012) and the Football Association’s England DNA programme (2014). But none of those issues change the fact that Guardiola has radically changed the landscape of the global game, and that has been just as true in England as elsewhere.

He has kept evolving, from overlapping full-backs to full-backs who inverted and tucked into midfield, to full-backs who were actually centre-backs to having John Stones step out of defence as an auxiliary midfielder, from a false 9 (or at least a centre-forward who was very involved in buildup play) to a classic No 9, from a demand for absolute control through the protection of possession to something looser, based on the capacity of technically adept forwards to beat their man.

It would be simplistic to say that the other great tactical thinkers who shaped English football had one big idea and then stopped. But, equally, Guardiola stands alone in his willingness to adapt, to tweak and to change. That perpetual inventiveness perhaps lay behind his tendency at times to overcomplicate his approach in the Champions League, but it is also why Guardiola has remained at the very peak of the game for 18 years.

It’s indicative of the state of perpetual revolution in which he exists that Guardiola leaves the Premier League with the hegemony of his tactical approach having apparently ended, control through passing yielding, at least for now, to a more direct approach that prioritises set plays.

The fecundity of his mind, that flexibility, that constant striving for something new, something better, that belief that football is never done, should be Guardiola’s legacy. For a decade, there has been a dance of mutual influence, but Guardiola has changed English football far more than English football changed him.

***

TJHE PEP's YEARS 2016-2026

Season by season, how City evolved over a decade

23 May 2026 - THE GUARDIAN / Sport

Compiled by Will Unwin

2016-17 No silverware in Guardiola’s first campaign

After it was confirmed in February that Pep Guardiola would be heading to Manchester plenty went on behind the scenes to create a squad suited to him but, in truth, it was a season of transition as the new head coach investigated who could fit into his system and what needed to change. It was apparent how influential the era-defining Kevin De Bruyne would be for Guardiola, as his class shone in midfield. City showed promise but finished third in the league and were knocked out by Monaco in the Champions League last 16.

Typical team (4-3-3) 

Bravo; Zabaleta, Stones, Otamendi, Kolarov; De Bruyne, Fernandinho, D Silva; Sterling, Agüero, Sané

2017-18 Premier League centurions

Bernardo Silva, Kyle Walker and Ederson headlined the summer business, while plenty of longserving players were shipped out. Everything was in place for Guardiola’s revolution and City dropped only two points in the opening 20 matches. Liverpool were thrashed 5-0 but got their own back by dumping City out in the Champions League quarterfinals. Guardiola’s first trophy was the League Cup, beating Arsenal in the final. The title inevitably followed, City reaching 100 points and scoring 106 goals as they showed they were the great entertainers, 19 points clear of Manchester United in second.

(4-3-3) Ederson; Walker, Stones, Otamendi, Delph; De Bruyne, Fernandinho, Gündogan; Sterling, Agüero, Sané

2018-19 Domestic treble winners

A comparatively poor 98 points and 95 goals followed but every single one was vital as Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool fought City until the bitter end. The two clubs exchanged the lead at the top of the table 32 times over the course of the season. City won their final 14 league matches on their path to domestic glory, lifting the League Cup and the FA Cup along the way. It was an English team that would ruin the European dream once more, as Tottenham surprisingly eliminated City in the Champions League quarter-finals on away goals after a dramatic tie in Manchester.

(4-3-3) Ederson; Walker, Stones, Laporte, Zinchenko; De Bruyne, Fernandinho, Gündogan; B Silva, Agüero, Sterling

2019-20 Dethroned as Covid hits

City fell spectacularly short in the Premier League, finishing 18 points adrift of the champions Liverpool. Covid’s intervention made it an unusual season, as the two legs of the Champions League last 16 were played six months apart. A 4-2 aggregate win over Real Madrid felt like a turning point in Guardiola’s European journey with City but they went on to lose to Lyon in a one-off quarter-final in Lisbon. City did not finish empty-handed thanks to a League Cup win secured on 1 March, only weeks before lockdown. Sergio Agüero and Rodri proved their class in a 2-1 win over Aston Villa.

4-3-3 Ederson; Walker, Fernandinho, Otamendi, Cancelo; De Bruyne, Rodri, Gündogan; Mahrez, Jesus, Sterling

2020-21 Champions but Euro agony

A 5-2 home humiliation by Leicester made Guardiola quickly realise all was not right. To cut a long story short, £60m was spent on bringing in the centre-back Rúben Dias and City went on to win the league 12 points ahead of Manchester United in a season largely played in front of empty stands. The League Cup found its way into the cabinet and the Champions League trophy was in sight for Guardiola and City as they breezed to the final where they faced Chelsea, who finished fourth in the Premier League, in Porto, but Guardiola left out the defensive midfielder Rodri and City lost to Kai Havertz’s goal, a frustrating ending.

(4-3-3) Ederson; Walker, Dias, Laporte, Cancelo; B Silva, Rodri, Gündogan; Mahrez, De Bruyne, Foden

2021-22 Gündogan final-day heroics

Everything went down to the final day, with City needing to beat Aston Villa to guarantee the title. Villa went two goals ahead and, with 15 minutes left, Liverpool needed to score once against Wolves to go top. Ilkay Gündogan and Rodri scored to level matters before a third goal, and a second from the German, in the space of five minutes turned everything around to create one of the most memorable finishes to a season. City’s Champions League exit was equally ludicrous, losing 6-5 on aggregate to Real Madrid after extra time. They were heading through at 90 minutes of the second leg, only to concede twice and bow out.

(4-3-3) Ederson; Walker, Dias, Laporte, Cancelo; De Bruyne, Rodri, Gündogan; B Silva, Jesus, Foden

2022-23 European champions at last

Everything fell into place. Guardiola changed his style, signing Erling Haaland to play as a No 9, transforming the team and scoring 52 goals in all competitions. The investment and tactical flexibility paid off as City bulldozed their way to the Champions League final. In the knockout stages RB Leip zig, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid were collectively beaten 14-0 on aggregate at the Etihad Stadium. It was a nervous final against Inter in Istanbul but Rodri earned the historic victory and the treble in the process. “It was written in the stars. It belongs to us,” Guardiola said.

(4-2-3-1) Ederson; Walker, Dias, Akanji, Aké; Rodri, Gündogan; B Silva, De Bruyne, Grealish; Haaland

2023-24 English title No 6

How do you follow a treble? By winning the final nine games to beat Arsenal to the title by two points for Guardiola’s sixth Premier League triumph. Real Madrid were once again a thorn in Guardiola’s side, beating City on penalties in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Further upset was to come in the FA Cup final when they lost to United

2-1 at Wembley. Guardiola also said goodbye to Klopp, who left Liverpool after years of touchline battles. “They have been our biggest rivals,” Guardiola said. “And personally he has been the best rival I ever had in my life – in Dortmund when I was in Bayern, then here.”

(4-2-3-1) Ederson; Walker, Dias, Akanji, Aké; Kovacic, Rodri; Foden, B Silva, Doku; Haaland

2024-25 Changing of the guard

The campaign was a disaster by Guardiola’s standards as City struggled to compete on any level. “If this were Barça or Madrid, they would have sacked me,” Guardiola said. There was loyalty to players who had brought the club so far but it was, arguably, a year too many for Walker and De Bruyne. There was surg ery on the squad in January as City battled even to qualify for the Champions League in a season that would end without any major trophies in the cabinet. Third in the league, their best shot at glory was the FA Cup but City meekly lost 1-0 to Crystal Palace in the final.

(4-2-3-1) Ederson; Nunes, Dias, Akanji, Gvardiol; Kovacic, Gündogan; Savinho, Foden, Doku; Haaland

2025-26 Going out with a bang

A further rebuild brought together a fresh and vibrant squad but there was plenty of work to be done to get it into Guardiola’s mould. It was a slow burner, City losing two of their opening three league games and, after four games without a win in January, challenging for first looked nigh-on impossible. City were resurgent, however, and made Arsenal sweat almost until the end. The cups were more fruitful as Mikel Arteta’s side were brushed aside in the League Cup final and Chelsea beaten in the FA Cup final. Once again Real punished City in Europe, making relatively light work of matters with a 5-1 win on aggregate in the last 16.

(4-2-3-1) Donnarumma; Nunes, Khusanov, Guéhi, O’reilly; Rodri, B Silva; Semenyo, Cherki, Doku; Haaland