Pep Guardiola bought the curtain down on a decade in England. He leaves having conquered all before him, breaking records and doing so in his own stylish way.
In years to come, once the dust has settled and you speak to the next generation, the stats, the numbers and the trophies will only say so much. Ultimately, you just had to be there.
Guardiola in the Premier League felt a long time coming after watching him dominate at Barcelona and Bayern Munich. But boy, was it worth it.
None of us expected a man renowned for his intensity to stick around for a decade. When he left Barcelona after four years, he claimed he was simply worn out. When he called time on Manchester City after ten years, he claimed: “Deep inside I know it’s my time. Nothing is eternal.”
Well, one thing is eternal: what he leaves behind.
‘Another Way of Winning’
Much like those older than me still light up when you mention Brian Clough or Johan Cruyff, some of us will light up when we speak about Guardiola in years to come.
I certainly will.
There was a book written about his time at Barcelona by Spanish journalist Guillem Balague called ‘Another Way of Winning’. That way has followed him wherever he’s gone. It is the type of football we’ve not seen in this country.
The 2017/18 season, which saw City rack up an unprecedented 100 points, was the start of this golden age. It had a novelty value about it. We’re nine years on from some of those performances, but they haven’t dried up.
Relentless
It is perhaps his relentlessness that best sums up the 55 year old from Santpedor. Winning never seemed to be enough.
Clips of Guardiola intensely giving his players pointers during trophy celebrations have been seen as almost humorous. But they provide an insight into the man himself.
2018/19, when they downed Liverpool by a point, and 2023/24, when they eventually overhauled Arsenal, showcased a team incapable of slipping up. They would win 14 straight to finish in 2019 and 18 of their final 21 in 2024 to retain their Premier League titles.
That sense of ‘Guardiola’s coming’ almost felt like it needed the music from Jaws to really hammer home its ominous nature.
The hunter and the hunted
Guardiola’s City side have been the hunters, the hunted and the team who sailed off into the sunset. On every occasion, their level, their standards and their desire never faltered. That was led by one man, and one man only.
Every game, every rival, every challenge. Guardiola’s non stop brain found a way to figure them all out. From his struggles at Anfield to Thomas Tuchel having his number early on, the Catalan would eventually navigate them all.
The money? It’ll always be used as a stick to poke him with. Every person who cites that as the reason for his success is clearly unable to see the transfer business of his rivals, some of whom have spent much more and won a lot less.
The standard bearer
Guardiola made getting 90 plus points the new standard for winning the Premier League. Such levels, year after year, may never be required or seen again.
Players have reached new heights because of him. Rodri became the first Spanish player to win the men’s Ballon d’Or since 1960.
Managers have been unearthed because of him, best summed up by his former assistant Mikel Arteta becoming a Premier League winner this season.
Where does he rank?
Comparison often comes with a tinge of emotion. We’re all guilty. No one who attends Old Trafford will see anyone other than Sir Alex Ferguson as the best manager to walk these shores. Chelsea supporters may insist Jose Mourinho at his peak would beat them all.
But what Guardiola produced on the pitch, backed up by the numbers, is, for me, unparalleled.
A battle of the stats largely leaves the outgoing City boss in a class of his own. His wins. The titles. The unprecedented four consecutive titles. The treble. Add in a domestic treble, which Ferguson once claimed was “impossible” to win. They all belong to the Catalan.
‘Your eyes don’t lie’
Roy Keane has often remarked that “your eyes don’t lie to you” when you watch games. Anyone who has watched Guardiola’s City side can’t be left anything but impressed.
It’s the highest level of football we’ve ever seen in this country. And it had its adaptations. From the 2018 era perhaps the closest thing we saw to his Barcelona side, to the 2023 treble side which made use of a genuine No. 9. In between, Guardiola proved he didn’t even need a striker to win leagues, playing with a blend of six midfielders and wingers in front of his back four.
‘Fraudiola’ no more
Despite his exploits at Barcelona and Bayern, Guardiola was not without his cynics and doubters. He has previously mentioned the ‘Fraudiola’ nickname that followed his underwhelming debut year. Those who made that comment have gone into hiding, no doubt.
The 1-0 win at Chelsea in 2017, when the Blues were champions, was one of those moments I look back on and realise this period was coming. Winning months later at Manchester United, setting a then record for consecutive wins, ended with the Catalan reminding people that his way of playing wasn’t limited to the country he was working in.
“People said you will not be able to do that in England. Ok, we will try,” Guardiola said upon his arrival.
He did more than try. And it was a pleasure to watch it.
The bottom line
Nothing is eternal. Guardiola said that himself.
But he’s wrong about one thing. His legacy? That’s eternal.
The trophies will fade in memory. The stats will be broken. But the way he changed English football? The standards he set? The football he played?
That will last forever.
We just had to be there. And I’m grateful that we were.
