Pep to leave at the end of the season

oakroad45 said:
I never thought I’d see the day Pep Guardiola would leave Manchester City.

Not really.

You convince yourself people like him somehow stay forever. That the football, the magic, the dominance — it just becomes part of life. Like Saturday afternoons, blue scarves in winter, and the nerves before a derby. But now it’s here, and honestly, it feels like losing a part of the club itself.

I’m 50 years old. I’ve supported City all my life. I was there when we were rubbish. Proper rubbish. I remember Maine Road when half the country laughed at us. I remember York away. I remember Division Two. I remember watching United win everything while we just hoped for a decent cup run and a bit of pride.

Supporting City used to mean resilience. Gallows humour. Blind loyalty.

Then Pep arrived… and suddenly the impossible became normal.

And what a ten years it’s been.

People outside the club will talk about trophies first — the league titles, the Treble, the records, the Champions League. But that’s not really what hurts today. It’s deeper than that. Pep gave us memories that honestly felt impossible for people of my generation.

The football was breathtaking. Not just effective — beautiful. Every week felt like watching artists. Silva. De Bruyne. Aguero. Kompany. Foden. Rodri. Haaland. Entire eras of football stitched together by one man standing on the touchline, overthinking everything because he cared that much.

That’s the thing with Pep — he cared.

You could see it in every fist pump. Every argument with the fourth official. Every mad celebration after a last-minute winner like it was his first trophy, not his fiftieth. He never treated City like a stepping stone. He became one of us.

And for older City fans, that means everything.

Because for decades we were the noisy neighbours. The punchline. The club with loyal fans but no glory to show for it. Pep changed the way the world saw Manchester City. More importantly, he changed the way we saw ourselves.

He made us giants.

I look at younger fans now and they expect us to dominate matches, win trophies, go to Wembley, challenge for Europe every season. And I smile because they don’t realise how spoiled they are. They didn’t live through the years where survival felt like success.

Pep gave them standards we never dreamed possible.

And maybe that’s why this feels so emotional. It’s not just a manager leaving after ten years. It feels like the end of the greatest chapter this football club will ever have.

One day I’ll bore my grandkids talking about this team.

I’ll tell them about the Centurions.
About the Treble.
About Aguero’s legacy carrying into a new dynasty.
About De Bruyne passes that didn’t seem human.
About watching us pin Real Madrid back like they were a small club.
About hearing the Etihad roar under the lights while the best manager in the world stood in our dugout.

And I’ll tell them how lucky we were.

Because that’s the truth. We were lucky.

Managers come and go, players move on, football never stops. But there will never be another Pep Guardiola at Manchester City. Not really. Some will win trophies. Some will play good football. But nobody will ever replicate what he gave this club emotionally.

He gave older fans closure for years of pain.
He gave younger fans a dynasty.
He gave all of us pride.

So if this really is goodbye, then thank you, Pep.

For every trophy.
Every masterclass.
Every derby win.
Every European night.
Every moment you made us believe we belonged at the top table of football.

Most of all, thank you for loving our club.

Once upon a time, we just hoped Manchester City mattered.

Because of Pep Guardiola, now the whole world knows we do.
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Fucking hell man. I'm 3 years your junior and that has really struck a chord with me.

Beautifully put!
 
Ryan.98. said:
Not enough of a stink being kicked up by the fans about Maresca being next in my opinion but not surprised with the happy clappers in our fan base.
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Utter nonsense
If its is Maresca, dont you think that Pep is 100% behind the appointment? We should trust the club to get another appointment right not start any protests
 
Saddleworth2 said:
Men have emotions and are allowed to cry too ;-)
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It's healthy! There is so much I want to say about Pep leaving, but I'm not in a fit emotional state ATM.

On a personal family level though we have had two pieces of good news, which is also contributing to how I'm feeling. I'm happy for us and fam, sad for us Blues. But every ending has a new beginning. X
 
Excited by this to be honest. If you told me Maresca was to replace Pep a few years ago I would have been disappointed and I still am, but there is nobody else available out there who is better and naturally anybody is a step down from Pep. Do we reckon this is a City decision or a Vianna decision, considering Vianna wasn’t here when Maresca was? Does this make next year another transitional year?
 
SaintColin said:
I agree, he is going to get hounded with questions. When is the presser due?
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Pep always controls the presser narrative. If he gets a shit question he basically tells them to fuck off or walks away .

Official MCFC line today is BUSINESS AS USUAL
 
Ryan.98. said:
Moyes was appointed on Fergusons recommendation.
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So he id how is it relevant, they lost the CEO and were scared to go against his word City is a totally different organisation to the rags
I might add the Shankly recommended Paisley who subsequently recommend Fagin none of those went too bad
 
This is the original Ornstein tweet from January, stating that Maresca first let Chelsea know he has spoken to City about replacing Pep as early as October last year. I think it’s clear Pep signed a 2 year extension as an attempt to reduce the speculation that would arise had he only signed a 1-year deal. Feels like it was never the intention to see out both years. And more than that, the intention was originally to leave last summer but we were essentially too bad for him to feel comfortable leaving in that moment.

 
kupest said:
Only manager who I think Pep considers a true adversary in his time here. The levels of both clubs in those few years will remain unmatched in terms of style of football and dominance.
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Agree 100%, even before Pep came to the PL. When Liverpool signed him I knew that we'd get Pep as he was the only better manager at the time.
 
tommy116 said:
Could this be the ultimate screw you to the media by Pep and City. Let them come out with articles and exclusives about leaving, then tell the world he is staying.
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As a few have said it would be next level betting. After the game on Sunday pep is handed the mic to make an announcement. Everyone thinks he’s going to say goodbye. Then announces he’s staying and drops the mic! lol
 
nijinsky69 said:
Well the Club has clearly done a shit job of keeping under wraps! It’s been an open secret for months. It’s not been like other times there’s been speculation. It’s been fuelled by speculation from within the Club which isn’t great.
If I remember correctly Ferguson’s departure was announced out of the blue and the twats went onto win the league.
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Ferguson had announced he was going to leave several years earlier and the club s season tailed off quite dramatically. He decided to stay and realised that was a bad way to do it and announced he was finally leaving very shortly before he did when the season was wrapped up.
Klopp's final season was not successful after they announced he was leaving they were well behind in third place.
 
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