Pep Guardiola

The player has to understand he is part of a team, with 10 other players.

Josep "Pep" Guardiola Sala (born 18 January 1971) is a Catalan football manager and former player from Spain who is the manager of Premier League club Manchester City. Widely regarded as one of the greatest football managers in history, Guardiola is one of two managers in history to win the continental treble twice and he holds the record for the most consecutive league games won in La Liga, Bundesliga, and the Premier League.

Quotes

• In the first part of the process, the defence is schematic things – four or five movements. So I believe that’s more schematical, more like an orchestra. But offensively, the way you attack is open. In some parts of the pitch of course you have to be creative and take the chance. But I don’t like it when people say: ‘I like freedom; I want to play for myself.’ Because the player has to understand he is part of a team, with 10 other players. If every player plays like a jazz musician, it will be chaos. They will not be a team.
  • Quoted in Pep Guardiola: ‘When I finish I will disappear. You won’t find me in your life’, The Guardian (3 Jan 2017)

• Listen, I am from Catalunya, you know. My education, my football education, comes from there. And I learn a lot here, I learn a lot in Germany, but my principles come from there. If I were born in Germany alongside Ralf Rangnick's ideas, Jurgen Klopp's ideas, whatever, probably I would do it I like this. But I feel the football the way I feel it and I cannot change it because they have success. Everyone has to do what they want.
  • Quoted in "Pep Guardiola exclusive interview: Man City coach on the German coaching rise and why his team are the exception", Sky Sports (6 March 2022)

• Ten years is a lot of time and I think the club needs a new manager, new energy, these incredible players we have right now and start to write another chapter
  • Quoted in "Guardiola says Man City 'need new energy' as exit confirmed", BBC Sport (22 May 2026)

• Many memories - forget the titles, it's the memories. All of us. All the people here are extraordinary. Life is made of periods, we lived an incredible period. If I had energy I would stay here. A new person has to do this job.
  • Quoted in "The moment that broke Guardiola on day a decade of glory ended", BBC Sport (24 May 2026)

Quotes about Guardiola

• Pep is one of the best managers we've ever seen. The greatest ever? Well, it's hard to disrespect Sir Alex Ferguson when you have that conversation, but those were different times - Pep's the greatest manager of the modern era, that's for sure.
  • Micah Richards quoted in "Why genius Guardiola is the greatest coach of all time", BBC Sport (22 May 2026)

• Guardiola's reputation rests on his wider impact, his ability to reinvent the way others thought about the game and his influence has permeated throughout the football pyramid... it is undeniable that Guardiola's impact extends beyond trophy count.
  • Tim Jotischky quoted in "Could history be rewritten? Guardiola, Man City and the 115 charges", BBC Sport (19 May 2026)