Everyone in the wider world of football knows that the 2024/25 season has gone kind of pear shaped for Pep Guardiola and his Manchester City side, and the 53 year old former Spanish and Catalonia defensive midfielder has set a few records that he would have preferred to avoid as they have struggled in a way that he has not really experienced during his glittering managerial career so far.
With 15 games played in their Premier League campaign, they have 27 points from eight wins and three draws, but they somewhat unbelievably lost four matches on the spin not so long ago, and occupying fourth place in the table they are eight points from top spot and for those fans who play bitcoin casino best games, it is a position that is difficult to improve upon. Their Champions League campaign this year in the revamped competition is not going much better as they only have two wins and two draws from their opening five matches, and it looks like their progression through to the next round will be via the Play Off spots at best.
With off pitch Financial Fair Play headaches to consider as well, Guardiola finally secured his future and signed a new two year deal extension at the Etihad Stadium the other month keeping him with them until the summer of 2027, but having won 15 trophies during his time with the side since joining initially back in 2016, it feels like club football (and a big project) is now beginning to take its toll on him as he is adamant that City will be his final club job in the game, and that he has not yet fully decided on whether or not he would like an attempt at international management.
Guardiola has of course been with City (eight years) for longer than he was with Barcelona and Bayern Munich combined, but speaking to the media following their more recent 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, although he would not be drawn on when he intended to step down from the club, he did categorically confirm that when he made his decision to step away that he would not be returning to the club game in the future in his current role.
Some may read into that and assume he may be tempted with a boardroom role or something along the lines of the kind of position that Arsene Wenger and Jurgen Klopp have stepped into, and he simply cited having a lack of energy to go somewhere new and start completely fresh once again, the training, building a squad, developing players through, but he did state that he viewed a national team role as being different enough for him to potentially consider in the years ahead.
Overall, he simply wanted to step away, relax, and play golf which is a freedom he cannot have given the pressures and the time constraints needed in the club role.
Many will also look at his words and note that he does not actually commit to seeing out his contract at City given the 2027 expiry date, and they will draw their own conclusions that ultimately that will depend on how they end the current campaign and whether or not he feels that he can go out on a high (and on his own terms) with their current struggles behind them.
