Manchester City will not decline like Manchester United did, insists Pep Guardiola | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola is of the firm belief that Manchester City will not experience a Manchester United-style decline in light of Sir Alex Ferguson’s exit.

The Etihad Stadium club are seemingly on the verge of the most transitional period since their takeover and change of manager in 2016, with a number of major alterations in key positions expected over the next few summers.

Manchester City have already confirmed that after 12 years working at the club, Txiki Begiristain will be bringing an end to his tenure as Sporting Director within the Etihad Stadium.

Begiristain is believed to have played a role in deciding upon his successor at Manchester City, too, with Sporting CP’s Hugo Viana having been appointed as the club’s next Director of Football, taking on the position on a full-time basis from the summer of 2025.

But as Pep Guardiola continues to weigh up his own future with a matter of months remaining on his last Manchester City contract signed in the Autumn of 2022, some are wondering what the next phase of the club will look like beyond Begiristain and the Catalan boss.

Speaking earlier this week, Pep Guardiola was quizzed on whether the structure in place at the Etihad Stadium is enough to prolong success, even beyond the respective tenures of Txiki Begiristain and himself.

“Yeah. Because when it’s going bad, they will find a solution immediately,” the 53-year-old insisted. “They will react, they will be patient, they will be calm, and they will know what they have to do. I don’t have any doubts about that, zero doubts.”

He continued, “But that is normal when it happens for a long time, Txiki (Begiristain) for 12 years, or me in my case, our case, it’s normal it looks like, ‘Oh we cannot live without that’. Of course we can live! Life is moving on, the earth… it continues going around.”

When asked for his thoughts on what has happened at Old Trafford following Sir Alex Ferguson’s exit as manager of Manchester United, Pep Guardiola said, “I’m not there! I don’t know what happened. Maybe it was… I don’t know!”

“What I’m pretty sure that it’s not going to happen (at Manchester City). I know how it works. It would be a bad, bad sign for the club if for just one or two persons, or one player leaves, and after everything, the structure falls down.

“Listen, it’s not going to happen. For sure, because maybe I can make a mistake but during the mistakes they are going to solve it and the mistake will be solved immediately. That’s for sure. Because the guys know exactly, the hierarchy, the guys know exactly what they have to do.”

For now, it remains to be seen what Pep Guardiola will decide to do with regards to his own future, with Manchester City retaining hope of the 53-year-old extending his stay into a 10th season at the club.

City may also benefit significantly from Hugo Viana working with Pep Guardiola for at least 12 months, to ensure that the legacy and vision installed by the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach is carried on over into the Portugal’s tenure at the club.