I've not minded this saga with the England job in that it's made the idea of Pep leaving pretty concrete. All things must end sometime and whether this is his last season, or next, or whenever, he's going to leave a massive hole in the club.
I'm glad that the evidence on Txiki, Omar, and now Marwood suggests that city are planning ahead pretty carefully. That will be doubly true of Pep's eventual replacement. I'm not sure Viana's arrival necessarily heralds an imminent change - Pep might quite enjoy working with a new team, it might even extend his tenure here.
The big gap I think we will experience when the time comes, aside from his coaching, obviously, is his pulling power. The idea of training with Pep has clearly attracted a lot of players to City. We're a bigger club now than we were when he arrived, but even so, that draw is going to reduce when he leaves, almost regardless of who replaces him.
Anyways, hopefully no time soon, but this episode has made it all more real for me, and determined to enjoy it while he is still here.
