Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak spoke to club media about his relationship with Pep Guardiola.
Khaldoon Al Mubarak and Pep Guardiola
Khaldoon Al Mubarak and Pep Guardiola
View Image
Khaldoon Al Mubarak has opened up on his relationship with Pep Guardiola, saying the former Manchester City boss "must have quit 100 times over these ten years" prior to announcing his exit.
Guardiola has brought the curtain down on a trophy-laden ten years at the Etihad, a decade in which the Blues have become the dominant force in English football and have won 20 trophies.
Enzo Maresca is set to replace the Catalan coach at the helm as City look to continue the success they have enjoyed under Guardiola. Al Mubarak spoke to club media about his relationship with the former City boss, revealing he toyed with the idea of leaving long before his announcement was confirmed.
"Over these years we have become close friends," Al Mubarak said of his relationship with Guardiola. "And I will say, and I don’t know if he will admit it, but I consider myself his psychiatrist. Okay, so I had to help him over the years. Not in the good times – the good times is easy – it’s always the challenging part. And inevitably over these last ten years we’ve had a lot of ups and some downs. And in the downs, he must have quit 100 times over these ten years, just so you know, just for the record.
"There’s the story as you all know, The Boy that Cries Wolf. In the case of Pep, when he says I quit, it doesn’t mean he’s quitting. You don’t take it that seriously – you have to manage him.
"He never thought he would stay more than four years, then more than five years. So, in his mind, even year four and five it was always ‘okay, how much more time? How much more time?’ And, you know, it always had to be done in the correct way. And I would say I always had a very clear understanding with Pep, because of that analogy of the Boy that Cried Wolf. Whenever he quits or whenever he thinks it’s time, I will always convince him to come back, until the time where I know it’s actually the real time – where it’s actually the real moment Pep decides actually it’s time.
"There’s the moments that are not real and he actually needs someone to bring him back. And there was always going to be one moment where it was going to be real.”