Txiki Begiristain leaves Manchester City as a totally different club to the one he arrived at.
When he joined Ferran Soriano in Manchester 13 years ago, City had already won an FA Cup and Premier League title but there was no guarantee of long-term success.
Since then, Begiristain – along with Soriano and Pep Guardiola – has overseen an unprecedented era of dominance in English football.
We won 21 trophies during his time as Director of Football, including seven Premier League titles – with four of those coming in sequence - and our maiden Champions League triumph.
Countless fan heroes, legends and icons have been brought to the Club through his work in the transfer market while a beautiful style of football has been established from our first team right through to our academy’s youngest age groups.
After his retirement this summer was confirmed, City Studios set out to hear from the man himself as well as those closest to him.
Here we get a deep dive from them on what Begiristain means to them and Manchester City as a whole…
As with every story, it had to start somewhere.
For Txiki and City, that start came when Ferran Soriano became CEO in September 2012.
He and Begiristain had been key allies during Barcelona’s glitteringly successful period immediately prior to this.
Soriano picks up from that point: “I spoke to Txiki before I came here. He was willing to come to the Premier League and was already in conversation with two other teams in the Premier League. I told him to wait for me.
“I also told him I can’t take him with me on the first day, I have to respect the people that I will find there. I said you need to give me a couple of months so that I understand whether I could bring you and then I will come back.
“He waited for two months until I was able to say you can have a job here. That was crucial because he could have gone to another club.
A Farewell to Txiki: Watch our new City Studios documentary
“I think this is the value of the relationship because I asked him and remember at the time City was perceived as a smaller club than the other offers he had.”
Brian Marwood, who had the title of football administrator at the time but carried many of the responsibilities that Txiki would take on, remembers the first discussions like this:
“There was great ambition from the ownership group to succeed domestically and in Europe.
“We’d built some very good foundations with the team winning the first title with the Sergio Aguero moment going down in history and the FA Cup the year before. It was felt that we needed then to go to another level with someone who had great experience and would be a good fit for this club.
“He was somebody too that had been around success. The things that we were trying to achieve were things that Txiki had achieved in his previous role at Barcelona and then there was his relationship with Ferran too. There were many components to it but he was exactly the right fit for it at that moment.”
Soriano: “At the time, the idea of a football director in the UK was not widely accepted. It was crazy to me. I came here and I was told that I can’t say that.
“It’s very dangerous because if you talk about the football director as the main person, you are diminishing the role of the manager and people in the UK do not accept that.
“To the point that the previous football director, they didn’t give him the title of football director because people were scared to talk about them as the number one decision maker.
“That’s crazy from a continental perspective. They were worried about us talking about a director the way we talk about them now. Things have changed and this is the right way to organise a football club.
“At the time, Ferguson or Wenger were sitting on the bench every game and also making every decision to do with the football club. That’s impossible!
“If you’re preparing a game every week, you can’t be involved in everything else that has to do with a club. But very importantly, the scope is very different. I think there is a problem with the word manager, that implies a management position to manage everything.
“That’s not what we’re asking the coach, we’re asking them to just manage the team. If you’re the coach, we’re asking you to look after the team week by week, winning or losing every game.
“If you’re a football director, your time frame is different. We’re asking you to look for the next 10 years.
“In 10 years, we’re going to rotate the squad two times. That’s what we’re going to be thinking, how am I going to replace this player that is now 27 when he is going to be 32? It’s a totally different job.”
With Begiristain in place in October, he set to work signing players and planning our next managerial appointment.
Marwood knew immediately the impact of bringing in a player and director of such repute.
“It’s helpful that he was a high-class player. Our generation, it was a much smaller environment. There were fewer players and staff.
“The ball remained the same shape and the goals the same size but a lot has changed. What hasn’t changed is the sense of how a player is feeling and what you see in them that they will bring into how you want to play, how they fit in the balance of the group you’re trying to create and what sort of individuals are they?
“I’ve been in many dressing rooms with numerous personalities and Txiki will have done the same. You don’t want everybody the same, but you’ve got to try and harmonise those personalities.
“You’ll always have moments of conflict, fragmentation and doubt and you have to try to maintain a balance all the way through. That’s the role of sporting director, head coach and staff coming together to create the right environment. Txiki is a master of that.
“He’s very confidential. In this industry, everybody seems to know everybody’s business. That’s really not the case at Manchester City because it’s a very small group of people that are involved in those decisions.
“You can probably count them on one hand. When you’re signing players, a lot of work goes into it. It’s very rare you see in the media much about our business. In the days of social media, he doesn’t put himself out there.
“A lot of sporting directors do because they like to self promote but there’s no way he would do that because he has great values that have stood him in great stead over the years.”
Begiristain himself had a plan for his own career.
“I was thinking that for this part of my career to do five years at City and then to go to another country.
“When I did seven years in Barcelona, I was thinking to leave for new experiences like I did as a player.
“My last years were in Coruna and then I went to Japan and I wanted to do something like this. England, Italy, US, Japan maybe?
“It’s so intense this work and the world of football at this level. I want to have my own life and I want to feel I am healthy to enjoy the next chapter. That’s why I said I planned to retire at 55, you have another 20 years having a good life.”
Begiristain managed the relationship with Manuel Pellegrini, who won three trophies in three seasons at City including our second Premier League.
All the while, he was seeking the right opportunity to approach Pep Guardiola, who arrived in 2016.
City haven’t looked back since and all three agree their relationship has been pivotal to that.
Begiristain: “First, myself and Pep played together and that means a lot. We lived a lot of experiences together. Then we became friends and had a clear vision of each other. I know what is the manager and I know my role as well.
“We have that clear and the respect for each other’s role is key. Then, for me, it’s key to understand the intensity of what he is living every minute before the games, after the games. I have to understand the temperature of the building. Also, I get help from others who are close to him.
“Pep, Ferran and I are aligned. It’s something that the chairman can see as well. If you ask us all the same question, you always get the same answer. There is fluent communication between all of us and we are aligned.
“Khaldoon asks us questions and he gets the same answer, so he can see it’s okay here. I am always meeting with other football directors and something that seems so simple like this is not happening in football.
“In other top, top clubs, this does not happen and no one knows what they have to do.”
Soriano: “Txiki is able to keep some detachment from the result and look at what we’ve done without overdramatising. This is an extraordinary quality for everybody.
“Everybody that I have seen that is extremely successful has this dual quality of working very hard and giving everything to achieve the results but having some detachment so that the effort to get the result doesn’t push you to do wrong decisions and be over emotional.
“It balances with Pep, who is more emotional. It’s not only them, it’s the definition of the job. The manager, the coach has to be there every day and has a game every three days. The intensity is dramatic.
“You’re there on the pitch and have 60,000 people looking at you. It’s very stressful. That generates a situation where it’s normal to have outbursts and feel the ups and downs.
“As a director, your job is to be calm and be detached from the day to day winning and losing to see what’s behind the results. Whatever change you make, it won’t have an immediate impact. So you have to be on a different timing and different tempo with a different personality.”
Guardiola: “One of the reasons I extended my contract is because Txiki is here.
“We work together incredibly well. When we win, we try to analyse why. When we lose we try to analyse why. We don’t judge the other one. We both work for the best for this club.
“Above all that, he is the most humble person I ever met. He never goes to the media. Always, the success is for the other ones. He is always behind the scenes.
“You don’t find these type of people in this world because their egos are always so high- and I put myself as an example [of that].
“He always gives the credit to the players, to the manager, for the chairman, and the CEO.
“That’s why it’s a pleasure working with him because I can do my job completely free, accepting the good moments and the bad moments and sharing together.
“In the bad moments we are closer than ever and in good moments we celebrate together with a glass of wine.
“That’s why it’s a joy to work here with people like Txiki.”
Marwood: “The trust and respect they have is the cornerstone of how they work. I talk a lot to all of our clubs about creating a safe space. Football has an ability to create unsafe spaces.
“In any walk of life, if you feel a bit unsure about your job you don’t give your best because you’re always a little nervous about can I do this or can I say that? They’ve created a safe space in the football environment. People feel they work properly and without fear.
“That is the most important thing that any football club can achieve and one of the reasons why I think we’ve been successful. That trust and lack of fear and understanding in terms of how all that comes together.
“Ferran is focused primarily on the business but Txiki and Pep are incredibly connected. They both want the same thing and they create the right sort of environment and that allows everyone to thrive and blossom.”
Together, they invested in a Catalan-themed restaurant in central Manchester named Tast.
Begiristain: “It was an opportunity when Pep came. We thought we’d have to have a restaurant where we can meet and watch games. It’s also a place to meet players in an environment where they can eat and relax and feel good. We wanted to bring that to give a warm experience to the players.”
Soriano: “When Txiki and I were trying to convince Pep to come, we went to a very good restaurant in Barcelona. It was Txiki, Pep, his brother Pere and myself. We were talking about the club and the project.
“Pep said: “Are there good restaurants in Manchester?” and I said “plenty!”. Then, when he left, Txiki and Pep were in this restaurant and I called my wife and said we’re opening a restaurant in Manchester.
“The restaurant scene today in Manchester is great but at the time it wasn’t as good. My wife, who has experience in the business, went to find a very good Catalan chef and we opened the restaurant.
“The restaurant is a place for us to eat very good food but also to connect with Catalonia and Barcelona. Culturally, eating the food you like helps.
“We have this room with a big screen and we don’t do proper work sessions there but we meet to watch games when we’re not playing. It’s a place to relax and talk and fundamentally, eat very good food. Txiki has been here for 13 years, Pep for nine and me a little more. We love Manchester, this is our new home but we are still away from home.
“We had to develop our own way of comforting ourselves and have a connection with our culture. We might listen to Catalan radio and then we eat our food. We needed these connections with our culture and our roots.”
By this point, Begiristain had adjusted to life in England and working in the Premier League.
Begiristain: “Our care department is the best in the world. I say this because the others tell me when they come here from other clubs, they realise the efficiency and the work that goes into the welcome they give to players and the families.
“Sometimes clubs only think about the player, but you are moving a whole family. When they go somewhere else, they say that City is the best in the world for this. It’s a key thing for the players and us. Maybe the clubs in London don’t think so much about this.
“The calmness of England is the biggest difference between working in Barcelona and England. Here, there is a risk and a lot of money moving.
“Transfer windows, selling and buying players means there is a lot of money. Controlling a lot of people that are all trying to take what they deserve is difficult, but it is better than the politics of Spain.”
Soriano: “The football environment in England compared to Spain comes across as very professional and calm. You might say there’s a lot of media and frenzy, but it’s incomparable with Spain, Italy and Brazil.
“I remember in our first or second month, Txiki and I went for dinner. We walked across Manchester at 7pm when the streets were full and we went to a restaurant and had dinner. At some point, Txiki said that nobody had identified us. That would be impossible in Barcelona.
“What happens in Barcelona is that people recognise you and approach you. The only thing they want to talk about is football and specifically Barcelona.
“And my mother would listen or read the media and say what’s going on, they’re saying this about you? The media pressure is high and the UK is a more comfortable place to work than others. For his job specifically, this is paradise.”
Begiristain has never courted the media’s attention, rarely speaking publicly and keeping transfers tightknit.
Soriano: “Our job is to make this club bigger and better, to win and to be sustainable financially. None of this requires shouting out in the media about what we do. None. We do the normal thing. It’s easy to say, it’s difficult to do because in the world there’s a lot of egos that want to be in the media and want to be known.
“There are a lot of times that’s not for the benefit of the football club, it’s for the benefit of themselves. Here, we’re very clear that the only thing that matters is the football club.
“We’ve gone through this before and it’s not in our interest. This fits Txiki’s character very well. If this would be an environment where we would ask the football director to speak to the media every week, Txiki would be less happy for sure. I think it’s a perfect match between his personality and what the club needs.
Begiristain: “In the beginning you have to create something that is solid, stable and a brand. Winning and successful, you have to keep the team there and become more attractive.
“I would say we are one of the top five most attractive clubs in the world. I know that even if a player has offers from other clubs, they might come to us and say “are you interested in me?”
“That is something that has happened in the last 15 years, not only us with Mancini with the first league and Aguero and the trophies they won. Now with the trophies we have won since, we are a very attractive club.”
Guardiola’s first season at City saw us finish third in the Premier League. Begiristain drove the squad refresh that set up an era of dominance.
“At City, I think maybe the second season of Pep was my most difficult transfer window. We had to accelerate the transition of that team that had won trophies earlier. We needed Ilkay, Bernardo and others to complete the succession plan of that team.
“After that, we started winning the league with the records and another one afterwards. Everyone wanted to come to Manchester City then. Also, everyone wants to try working with Pep. Every player in the world would say there was one day they tried to come Manchester City and that’s because of Pep.”
Marwood says the most important signing was already through the door.
“We’re all biased of course but Pep’s the best manager in the world and arguably the best manager of all time. They don’t come around that often so to get him and to keep him for as long as we have is an incredible achievement. I don’t know how Txiki views it, but I would have said it’s the most important signing we’ve ever done here.”
As his self-imposed deadline for moving on came and went, Begiristain says the decision to stay at City wasn’t difficult.
“Things were going well with friends around me, two more years, two more years, two more years, Pep extending his contract and now I am 60 years old. I have to live and rest a little bit.
“I have to always make the difference between the trophies you win as a player on the pitch and the ones you win as a sporting director. Football is for players and managers. We are helping.
“There’s a solid football structure, something that Ferran and Khaldoon have created here. They’ve taken decisions to create that team with the coach. Football is for players and coaches.”
21 trophies later, Txiki confirmed to the world in October 2024 he would be calling it a day at the end of the 2024/25 season.
That statement also addressed that Hugo Viana would be his replacement, with a managed transition to take place in 2025.
In his first press conference after the news was revealed, Guardiola said this of his old friend.
“Part of me is leaving.
“Friend of mine and the architect to create one of best teams ever from Barcelona at that time and now here.
“I knew the decision for a long time for family reasons and personal reasons. I know how grateful he is for his experience here.
“Personally he will be missed. He will be missed a lot. For the confidence, the trust and especially in the bad moments because he made me incredibly balanced in my job because I am so energetic and when it is going bad I want to destroy everything and all the time he said ‘see you tomorrow, take a day off’.
“He helped me a lot in my period in Barcelona and, of course, here.
“I was so grateful [for his support early in time at City] but I was not surprised.
“One of the reasons I came here was because of the potential future but also because friends like Ferran and Txiki were here.
“At that time I didn’t know my chairman, I didn’t know my owner, I didn’t know the staff, I didn’t know the players. I didn’t know almost anyone. But I knew them.
“I had the hierarchy support me and it was not a surprise. I am so grateful because it could be different.
“But I worked with them, especially with Txiki in Barcelona, and I knew it was going to happen. Always we tried to find a solution and not to blame what was going on.”
Marwood: “We’ve known for a while about Txiki’s intentions, so that’s given a lot of time to think about what next looks like. We went through the usual process but we wanted to bring somebody in who could work alongside Txiki and Pep.
“When you walk into City, where the business is very different to Sporting, it can be very daunting for people. It’s a huge beast here. He’s familiar with England because he played here but to be a sporting director in one of the biggest clubs in the world, it’s good to have that period to see how it all works.
“All of those things have been beneficial when he has Txiki alongside him. They’ve gone to games and training together and talked about what they’ve seen.
“I think this is invaluable and I’m sure Hugo has appreciated that ability to work with Txiki for that period. He has many similar qualities in that he’s respectful, humble and calm.
“We had that problem of filling some of the most successful shoes in world football and I think with Hugo, we have somebody that will be extremely successful here.”
Khaldoon Al Mubarak: “He is a legend. Txiki is a legend, and I don’t use that word lightly. 13 years, what Txiki has accomplished, has been integral in the success of this club, in every part.
“Having an effective football director requires a particular style, a particular vision, a particular approach, and I think if you’re going to go to the Oxford Dictionary and search for ‘football director’, I think the image and picture of Txiki should be the image that appears.
“He is the personification of an incredible football director, in everything he has done, and everything he has accomplished, and in the way he does it. And I look back at 13 years he’s given to the club, I think the trophies speak for themselves.
“His role and his handprint is in every one of these trophies. All these players that have come in over these years, all these players that have also exited, managing that operational side of it, dealing with multiple managers from Mancini, to Pellegrini.
“Different personalities, all handling them with grace and eloquence, all building trust and confidence with all of them.
“And then being a great custodian for the club in being very conscious in the financial side of it, to get that balance between the football knowledge and the right financial knowledge, and making the right decisions both in terms of the entries and exits.
“He has brought in over £1billion of revenue from player sales in his 13 years with the club.
“And then he has rebuilt multiple squads, and even his role now in this latest iteration with the work that he’s done in January, and the work that he’s done with Hugo (Viana), I think is a testament to his professionalism.”
Soriano: “We’ve developed our relationship so that we can marry our friendship with the work that we need to do.
“Txiki is very respectful of everybody but he tells the truth. I like very much that he doesn’t speak a lot in meetings but when he speaks, he says things that have been well thought and well crafted.
“When he speaks, I always listen to him. Always. The most important thing in this relationship and in his job, is that he’s a calm person. The football environment is very intense and at times can be extreme but he always keeps calm.
“He always looks at whatever happens to us, whether it’s positive or negative, with a bit of distance. He’s a good professional and a friend for the same reasons. He’ll always be a friend.
“We have a lot of examples in the world of football, not very far away, of transitions that are a disaster. Where the person leaving says I’m out, it’s your problem.
“In this case, we did a very thorough process with Txiki’s participation that started with data analysis of all the football directors in the world. We ended up with a shortlist of maybe five and we talk to them.
“The first time we talk to Hugo, there was a very long lunch. Hugo, Txiki Begiristain, Brian Marwood and myself. Then we had several conversations and travel to Lisbon.
“We wanted to know him as a person. We managed to convince Txiki to stay long enough and Hugo to come early enough that they could work together. In my view, this is a perfect transition.
“It’s not always possible but in this case we have achieved it. It took us one year to choose the candidate and they will have been working together for like six months. So by now, we know we’ve got it right.
“We knew Hugo was knowledgeable but he has shown he is decisive. His integration with the group, with Txiki, Brian, me and Pep has been seamless. He’s one of us and that’s the perfect outcome.”
And so the final words go to Txiki himself, to reflect on his life at City and in Manchester.
Begiristain: “To be a sporting director in a football club for more than seven, eight, nine years looks like a miracle.
“It’s not only me and my work, the people that I’ve been working with have made my life easier and better.
“Manchester has changed and in the same way I have changed. You take pictures of me, it’s the same. I am getting older but Manchester is the opposite. New buildings, more beautiful. It’s unbelievable.
“There was nothing where there are now towers. But it was always nice. It’s a city with character and personality.
“My daughter is staying here, so that’s the perfect excuse to come back to visit! And having watched the best football in the world, I will now only carefully select the games I want to watch and when.”