)
The Manchester City boss is defiant in the face of calls for him to quit the club
Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola has declared that he will continue as manager of the club unless he is sacked due to bad results.
He made these statements in defiance of rumours that he will step down due to Manchester City’s ongoing legal battle with the Premier League owing to alleged breaches of the league’s financial rules.
Guardiola’s rumoured exit
Manchester City have been accused of breaching more than 100 Premier League financial rules, and Guardiola had already said that he would leave them if they ever lied to him about their conduct when similar charges were brought against the club by UEFA, leading many to speculate that he would soon quit the club in light of fresh charges.
However, in a pre-match press conference, Guardiola insisted that the ongoing legal tussle was not enough reason for him to step down as Manchester City manager and was optimistic that the Cityzens would beat the charges just as they did with UEFA.
“I am not moving from this seat. I can assure you, more than ever that I want to stay. Sometimes I have doubts, seven years already is a long time in any country. Now I don't want to move. Not because people say they lied to you Pep. They didn't lie to me.”
Guardiola fully trusts Manchester City executives
He also stated that he fully trusted the executives at Manchester City and was confident that they would be able to pull off a similar outcome to the one that they had in the case against UEFA.
)
"Look what happened with UEFA. I said to them: what happened? Pep, we did nothing wrong. We proved it. It is the same case. Why should I don't trust with my people? Why should I trust the CEOs or the owners of the 19 clubs, the nine clubs like it was with UEFA?
“No, I trust my people. Between them and my people, I trust my people. Not one second for the other ones."
Only poor results can make Guardiola leave Manchester City
Guardiola, however, chose to outline the only reason that he would consider leaving Manchester City, which is if he was asked to leave by the owners due to bad results.
"Hopefully the reason they are going to sack me is the results. It is the reason managers leave their position or stay in the position. And I think in that situation we will decide together because of the confidence and trust that we have in each other.”
If results are the only reason he will consider an exit, then Guardiola is unlikely to leave City anytime soon.
)
With him at the helm, Manchester City have won four of the last five league titles and have won numerous domestic cups, including a domestic quadruple in his second season at the club.
They have also reached the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League twice, and have been runners-up on one occasion.
This season, they trail Arsenal by five points in the Premier League, and still have the FA Cup and UEFA Champions League to fight for.
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)