Pep Guardiola has had a trophy-laden decade at Manchester City
When Pep Guardiola first arrived at Manchester City 10 years ago, he told supporters to fasten their seatbelts. A decade on, and after 592 games across three continents that have brought 20 trophies and timeless memories, nobody wants to get out of the car.
Except for Guardiola. The time has finally come. Nobody, least of all the man himself, ever envisaged him staying at the Etihad as long as he has, but having been changed by the club and the city the honorary Manc has changed City as well as English football forever after a perfect marriage that saw unimaginable highs that more than made up for crushing losses.
If it has been a rollercoaster that has seen far more ups and downs, there will still be a sadness that extends beyond the City Football Academy as the footballing world gets their breath back from witnessing football achievements that may never be matched.
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Guardiola had been targeted by the City hierarchy to lift them to the next level, and he took them to a table for one. Blues still couldn't believe that they had landed the best manager in the world in 2016, only for them to be the best team in the world seven years later.
From a hundred-point Premier League season to a domestic clean sweep to the Treble to four consecutive league titles, the feats of Guardiola's City are astonishing. And when you consider the attractive football that continues to be associated with the Catalan and how that has spilled down the English pyramid as well as across the world, the mark he leaves on the game is arguably unrivalled.
His departure has been a long time coming. He was pretty much out of the door in November 2024 before changing his mind and signing a new two-year deal that stunned basically everyone around him, only to break a contract for the first time in his career and leave with 12 months left.
That left many even more hesitant about finally coming to terms with the fact he is leaving this summer despite the speculation that has swirled for months and was all but confirmed earlier this week. Guardiola had changed his mind before, meaning nobody could be certain when he would finally bring down the final curtain.
While he said that he didn't need to win a trophy to leave the club, it is fitting that City have won the Carabao Cup and FA Cups in his final season given his attitude towards the competitions spoke so much for his raising of standards at the club. No manager in English football had ever won five League Cups before Guardiola, another piece of history. No one had reached four successive FA Cup finals before either, Guardiola winning his last at Wembley just last weekend.
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Then there is the Premier League, the competition that Guardiola has bent to his will and refused to let go. Many were ready to write him off in 2017, 2020, and then 2025 and yet they are the outliers in an astonishing show of consistency and quality, even if they fell just short this time around.
Except now the gratitude is for lived experiences rather than the hope of them, Guardiola changing the lives of City fans forever with what he has won with the team. And yes, there are the outstanding Premier League charges yet to be resolved, but they won't diminish the achievements of the team in the last decade in the eyes of the fans.
Hosting Aston Villa, the opponents for one of the most memorable and glorious matches of Guardiola's tenure with their thrilling 3-2 comeback on the final day of the 2021/22 season to win the league, Guardiola's final curtain will come in front of an extra 7,000 supporters in the newly-opened top tier of the North Stand.
The Catalan leaves the club bigger and better than ever, and if it felt like a dream to appoint the best manager in the world in 2016 now it is a reality. Guardiola has elevated City in England and Europe to the point where the top coaches all want to work at the Etihad, and that change should be lasting.
Ten years has been far longer than anybody at City could have hoped for back in 2016, and it has allowed for a dynasty to be built. Whenever Guardiola returns to east Manchester - and he will be welcome any time - he won't even need to seek out the permanent tributes for him that will come to see the lasting impact he has built at City.