Pep Guardiola has opened up about how exploring other cultures has shaped him as a person and as a manager – and why Thomas Tuchel can finally end England’s long wait for World Cup glory.
Guardiola was a guest on the One on One podcast from Sky Sports where he spoke passionately about the situations in the Middle East and Ukraine – and how being a football manager is the only career where people demand you get sacked.
Before Tuchel’s appointment as England head coach, Guardiola had been linked with succeeding Gareth Southgate, but he told podcast host Juliette Ferrington he tended not to think too far into the future.
“I’m happy here [at Manchester City],” he said.
“I want to win tomorrow, I want to live day by day. I don’t think about what happens in February, in March, in April. It’s far, far away. I want to enjoy today in the training session and the day after tomorrow the game.”
Regarding Tuchel’s appointment, Guardiola said it was understandable some England fans would prefer an English manager, but believes it is important for everyone to get fully behind the new man.
“Thomas is the manager – come on! The federation decide – full support from English people, come on. To have to make the last step they need to win a trophy,” he said.
“Gareth Southgate – he was so close. The standards for Gareth [were] magnificent. And the federation want [to make] that step and decide from that.”
‘The same fears, the same wishes, the same desires’
Guardiola spoke about how his own upbringing and experiences had shaped his approach to management – and to life.
He said: “I was born in Catalonia. I love my country, because it’s my language, my mother tongue, my everything. In the same time, I travel to Italy and I met people and I love them and I love to go to Italy to see them, and here would be the same and other places.
“Today people move all around the world and we learn from them. We read books because what’s written for other people can inspire you, make you feel better.
“I was in Germany, I was in the Middle East, I was here, I was in Italy, I was in Mexico. And I learned that we are all the same. The same fears, the same wishes, the same desires.
“The people want to live in peace. They want to have a decent job, have enough money to have a house, put food on the table, go one day to the cinema, to the theatre or go for drinks one night. People just want that.
“That’s why for me it’s difficult to understand what happened today in Palestine, or what happened today still in Ukraine, in Russia, in Israel. How many many innocent people die.
“The people want to live in peace. And why is the modern world still in this position? It’s because you don’t understand the other one. And the other one is the same like you.
“He was born one day in one land and wants to live that… Still right now we are far away as a human being from where we should be. Honestly. What history taught us in the past, still we didn’t learn. It’s so sad.”
The last one standing
When Guardiola joined Manchester City in 2016, Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho and Jurgen Klopp were all managing Premier League teams. He was asked how he felt being the last one of those standing.
“When you are nine years [in the job] you become the oldest one,” he said.
“In football, if you don’t win, or Jurgen’s retired, when you don’t get results you change the managers. It’s our world.
“The simple answer is I’m still here because we won. Otherwise I would not be here – not even the respect and confidence we have each other for the hierarchy with me, me with the hierarchy.
“I would not be here. You have to win in this business. It’s the only job where people are demanding desperately to sack you. I’m not asking to the teachers, the doctors, the architects, ‘Don’t do you job. Don’t get your money…’ In our profession you have to accept it.”
Winter on Pep’s legacy
The podcast also features sports journalist Henry Winter, who praises Guardiola’s influence on the English game and the England team, even without having the manager’s job.
“Whether he wants it? It would be a third of the money for five times the grief,” said Winter.
“If you’re manager of a big Premier League club you dominate the sports pages. If you’re manager of the England national team, you’re on the front pages. You’re on the feature pages. You’re on the news pages. And that is huge.
“He mentioned the situation in the Middle East. If he’s England national manager that would absolutely be dissected as if the Prime Minister said it.
“I hope he stays in English football. In terms of influence on the game, tactical innovations Pep is almost in a field of his own. I would put him up in the top fove managers in terms of influence, impact on English football at all levels.”