I’m sure they wouldI wonder if Villa would agree to both sides giving Pep a guard of honour on Sunday. If ever a manager deserved one.
I guess ultimately the next ten years depends entirely on what happens with the charges.Not wanting to pour cold water on this, but I am old enough to remember the Joe Mercer era we had a period of unprecedented success but when he eventually left his understudy took over! To say it was a unmitigated disaster and brought a long period in the football wilderness. I sincerely hope history doesn't doesn't repeat itself !!
I think we are a lot more professional off the field since then.Not wanting to pour cold water on this, but I am old enough to remember the Joe Mercer era we had a period of unprecedented success but when he eventually left his understudy took over! To say it was an unmitigated disaster and brought a long period in the football wilderness. I sincerely hope history doesn't doesn't repeat itself !!
After Joe there was a period of success, 76 LC Final, runners up, Europe. Book did a great job after Mal.Not wanting to pour cold water on this, but I am old enough to remember the Joe Mercer era we had a period of unprecedented success but when he eventually left his understudy took over! To say it was a unmitigated disaster and brought a long period in the football wilderness. I sincerely hope history doesn't doesn't repeat itself !!
Bravo mate, you’ve brought tears to my eyes. Fabulous postForgive the ramblings of an over emotional 64 year old man, who should probably know better, but here goes.
Peps 10 years at the Club have pretty much been the soundtrack to my recent life. I met the current Mrs Dodge the Christmas before he joined. She was told early doors that the one thing that will never change will be me and City. 6 months later I dragged her up to the CFA to the Pep greeting and from that moment on she was hooked. Within a couple of years she had her seasoncard and we've travelled all over England and Europe ever since. Kharkiv twice, Belgrade, Madrid too many times, Leipzig, Dusseldwarf, Basel and many others. Along the way, met many a hardened Euro away Blue who have become the best of friends. At Porto, I met for the first time in 20-odd years my very best mate from my teenage/early 20's years. The guy who used to hitch-hike round the country with me, as City daft scallies, ducking and diving in the dark days. The guy who I'd have took a bullet for, who I fell out with over stupid argument. Pep, getting us to that CL Final, sorted out that friendship, which still flourishes to this day. I lost my old man to cancer the year before Pep came. After the Pep greet I took the new Mrs Dodge to Southern Cemetery to see him. She noticed that his grave was covered in white feathers, which we thought nothing of at the time. At Istanbul, at the final whistle, when we were all thinking of the people we'd lost who didn't get to see us make history, you can imagine our thoughts when Mrs Dodge noticed a white feather float down from the sky at the final whistle.
That's the point of my post really. The personal memories that that man has given us will live forever. It's not just a footballing legacy, it goes far beyond that. The man hasn't just changed Manchester City. He's changed people, families, friendships. Changed the worlds perception of Manchester. Changed everything for the better.
What an absolutely blinding legacy.
So again, 10 years on, I'll be dragging Mrs Dodge up on Monday to wish him a fond farewell, in the balmy Manchester sunshine (he's even changed the fucking weather), sink a few scoops with mates and raise a glass to Josep Guardiola Sala.
Salud Pep, nice one.
WOWNot wanting to pour cold water on this, but I am old enough to remember the Joe Mercer era we had a period of unprecedented success but when he eventually left his understudy took over! To say it was a unmitigated disaster and brought a long period in the football wilderness. I sincerely hope history doesn't doesn't repeat itself !!
Outside of the fantastic decade of brilliant, sometimes actually jaw dropping, successful football we’ve been privileged to watch with Pep he also comes across as fundamentally a really decent bloke. The comparisons with Ferguson are limited to their on field success. You can genuinely make a case for either being ‘the best’, it doesn’t really matter because they were clearly both excellent.
It’s off the field that Pep is in a completely different league to Ferguson. For all his 30+ years being resident in Manchester Ferguson has lived outside the city, never engaged with the people of Manchester, never shown any interest or desire in connecting with them or supporting them. Compare and contrast with Pep. In his 10 years he’s embraced pretty much every aspect of Manchester life, art, music, sport, social life and encouraged his staff and players to do likewise. His affection for the city and for its people appears 100% genuine. He gets our culture, our ethos and the vibe of the city, both good and bad and has a genuine empathy with us.
That’s his legacy for me and I’ll miss him more for that than I will for the football.
Yea I was just about holding it together, but that floored me.The reference to losing his mom to Covid hit hard.
As much as I would love that to be right I remember talking to Keith Pinners Mrs once and she only had good words for Ferguson. Said he is nothing like he is in public and had visited Keith at home when he wasn't well along with doing other things for charity that people don't hear of.Outside of the fantastic decade of brilliant, sometimes actually jaw dropping, successful football we’ve been privileged to watch with Pep he also comes across as fundamentally a really decent bloke. The comparisons with Ferguson are limited to their on field success. You can genuinely make a case for either being ‘the best’, it doesn’t really matter because they were clearly both excellent.
It’s off the field that Pep is in a completely different league to Ferguson. For all his 30+ years being resident in Manchester Ferguson has lived outside the city, never engaged with the people of Manchester, never shown any interest or desire in connecting with them or supporting them. Compare and contrast with Pep. In his 10 years he’s embraced pretty much every aspect of Manchester life, art, music, sport, social life and encouraged his staff and players to do likewise. His affection for the city and for its people appears 100% genuine. He gets our culture, our ethos and the vibe of the city, both good and bad and has a genuine empathy with us.
That’s his legacy for me and I’ll miss him more for that than I will for the football.
Well said mate,what a **** that Holt is and will remain,Pep has more class in his little finger than that fucker has in his whole rancid bodyPep is the perfect opposite of our cunting journalism profession. You just have to watch his video and then compare it to the morals of the “man” who decided to break the story the night before our crucial league match at Bournemouth, a shit stain of a Stockport fucking county supporter who hates us with a passion and bitterness truly befitting his profession. We may have not won even without his story on Monday evening but it sure as shit had an impact on us and may well have cost us the title. It did what he wanted.
I’ll tell you something else about Oliver fucking holt - the midweek before the Munich anniversary Derby I was driving back from a meeting and tuned in to radio Manchester to hear Holt talking to Terry fucking Christian and proclaiming how disgusting our fan base was and how we were going to despicably disrupt the silence. Not IF, but stated as an absolute fact. Well you were so fucking wrong you snide floppy haired smug **** Holt, indeed as we left the swamp that day the rag announcer graciously thanked us for our IMPECCABLE support, impeccable by action as opposed to despicable by prediction.
And that is the difference. Pep is impeccable, Holt is despicable.
Thank you Pep, fuck you Holt
Fucking hell pal it was already a sad day. Cold water - more like the iceberg that sank the fucking titanic!Not wanting to pour cold water on this, but I am old enough to remember the Joe Mercer era we had a period of unprecedented success but when he eventually left his understudy took over! To say it was an unmitigated disaster and brought a long period in the football wilderness. I sincerely hope history doesn't doesn't repeat itself !!
He's not a bloody golfer, you know?Fuckin hell does it come with an iron?