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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You can add to that the first press conference after the charges came out. If he wasn't one of us before he certainly was after that afternoon.
 
Grealish’s Shinpads said:
Wouldn’t call a 70% win rate “failing”. Vinicius threw a tantrum and he ended up getting sacked. They’ve been terrible since he left
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He inherited Ancelotti’s successful squad. The fact they went downhill just a year after Alonso left shows he did nothing to improve them during his one year tenure and undid all of Ancelotti’s good work
 
chaddblue said:
The longer this goes on through the day without any kind of official announcement, the more I'm suspicious about the whole thing

I'd be shocked if the club leave it to Pep to face a pack of wolves in his pre-match interviews before the game
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There's a lot of signs he's leaving, that's why I think its true. The big give away is the COOP celebration and when it was announced I thought it suspiciously sounded more like of a "Goodbye" celebration. He's been acting strange when asked about whether he's staying or leaving. Maresca leaving Chelsea before Christmas was also a big clue, at the time I thought it was bullshit but it seems like it wasn't.

My only glimmer of hope if he still hasn't made his mind up and he is still waiting for how the season pans out. Nothing like a serious dose of copium.
 
Im surprised we didn't go for Alonso tbh but Maresca will get my full support and let's hope for plenty more trophies. Replacing Pep will be an incredibly tough job for anyone.
 
Just read a very detailed article from Jack Gaughan.



Yeah we may struggle. Pep is totally unique. Gonna be tough for maresca and the board
 
Doc_Testosterone said:
How did he fail at Real? They were doing great and he got fired because Vinicius got upset along with Donatello. Real refused to buy into his style and he still had the 4th highest points per game stat at Madrid, with injured players.

Compare that to the bald fraud we are about to appoint as our manager. A man who couldn’t build a team with an empty chequebook owner.
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1. Alonso inherited Ancelotti’s good work and just one year later fell out with everyone and won nothing with mighty RM

2. In his only year with Chelsea, Moresco won a European trophy despite the fact “Prior to Enzo Maresca's appointment as head coach in June 2024, Chelsea experienced one of the most turbulent periods in their history”
 
I can't believe that even at this point some of you still think Pep is staying, I swear you will still deny he's gone when Maresca takes charge of his first game.
 
Cityfan said:
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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The GPC originally said he was going 2002/ 2003.
 
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