Pep Guardiola on Tuchel England appointment, City injuries and wolves preview
18/10/2024
CFGA, Manchester, Uk
18/10/2024
CFGA, Manchester, Uk
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SportsTranscript
00:00Hi, Pat. Can I check in on your fitness of the players that you could have expected back?
00:29Kevin De Bruyne, Nathan Ackie. Any chance?
00:32I don't think so.
00:34No chance at all?
00:35No.
00:36Does that mean that they've had setbacks?
00:38No, but not ready. They are training, they are in the last part, and by yesterday Nathan was the first training with the team.
00:47So, you know, maybe he can travel, but I think to start is not ready.
00:54Anyone else got any issues?
00:56Some of them Brazilian. Manu, today was day off, so today we'll see how they feel.
01:05Between today and tomorrow we'll know exactly.
01:08And just looking ahead to the Wolves game, obviously you always say after the international break that these matches are difficult no matter who you face,
01:16but what do you think of the challenge of going to Molineux to face Wolves after the break?
01:20They got less points than they deserved. That's all I can say with this long international break that I had time to see a few games.
01:27They got less points than they deserved, so always have been tough with Wolves, since Nuno Espirito Santo was the manager,
01:35and all the time he will be an exception.
01:42Hi, Pat. Thomas Tuchel was appointed as the England manager this week.
01:46Eddie Howe this morning has already said he wasn't approached.
01:50Was there any approach from the Football Association to you at all?
01:54Manager Thomas Tuchel is the manager, so I congratulate him for the FA and Thomas for a big job,
02:04and I wish him England, just for the fact that I'm nine years here, the very, very best for both of them.
02:13It's obviously provoked a bit of a debate about whether the England coach should be an Englishman.
02:19As someone yourself who's worked here for nine years now,
02:22do you think there is an issue with the amount of elite coaches that England is producing?
02:28Look, there is one thing like every human being no intervene on zero. Zero intervene.
02:34It's where we're born. We don't decide that.
02:39Mum and dad decide in certain moments, and nine months later we are here.
02:44But we don't decide. I didn't decide to be Catalan.
02:48I didn't decide to be English. So that is a reality, the influence.
02:53So I understand completely the people. It is normal, you know, to be manager for the national team when you were born.
03:01But at the same time in this world, in this world when English manager is, you know,
03:08FA and national from UK is going bad, bad, he will be destroyed.
03:14So he is a question of results, and now the federation from UK decide, you know,
03:20for a foreign manager with a well-known, recognised for his talent, and I wish him the very best.
03:27My point of view can be, you know, some opinions, but I would like to support him unconditionally
03:33because he will represent your country the very best.
03:35He will represent for his knowledge, for his wisdom, to do the best.
03:41And he wins, we'll be completely surprised, and he loses, we won't criticise,
03:44but it doesn't matter if he is a foreigner or not a foreigner.
03:48The federation decides he is the right person to lead this transition
03:52and follow the incredible job that Garry Solskjaer has done, and it is going to happen.
03:58So I know we are proud, you know, where we are, where we were born, where we live,
04:03the education that we had, but the world is so big, so big.
04:08And you have to be open-minded, you know, I came here to learn from all of you.
04:13So I'm not here to, you know, to give you my experience from other countries.
04:17I came here to give what I know, but to get a lot.
04:20And that is what it's all about.
04:21Look what happened today all around the world in the wars we have
04:25because you believe you are better than the other one.
04:29What happened in Russia and Israel and Ukraine and Gaza and all these places in Africa.
04:34So it's terrible.
04:36It's just because we believe we are better than the other one, and we are not.
04:38It's just who we are.
04:40We try to travel, we try all around the world to share experience, to meet people,
04:45and that makes us absolutely better.
04:48And I think they decide to support 100%, like what happened before with Gareth
04:52and the very best from England and all the people.
04:56But I don't like to just being criticized for just the fact you were born in a place
05:00like you didn't intervene, you know?
05:04I'm not guilty to be Catalan, I'm not.
05:06So I just was born there.
05:08But after I learned a lot there and in Germany and in Mexico and in the Middle East
05:16and now in England, and that is having incredible friends everywhere,
05:20and that is what it is.
05:24Pep, just to clear up, because it's been widely reported that the FA did have
05:28some sort of conversation with you about the possibility of you becoming the England manager.
05:33Thomas Tuchel is the manager.
05:35So forget about it.
05:37I'm a manager for Man City.
05:39The conversation I have is with Man City.
05:41This is what it is.
05:43Tuchel is the manager already.
05:45Thomas is that.
05:46This is the most important thing.
05:48The rest is not important.
05:50On that, though, and not on your own situation, I know you've spoken in the past
05:54about your future and possibly managing a national team.
05:58Whenever this journey ends, is that still something you would like to do?
06:02Yeah.
06:03And is it something that you can foresee happening next after Manchester City?
06:10How do you view your future in the game as it stands now?
06:15I don't know when I'm talking, but I've said it many times,
06:17and hopefully all of you won't ask me anymore.
06:20I didn't take a decision already.
06:22When I take it, I will inform you.
06:24For sure, 100 per cent.
06:26That's why there is no news, and that's why I don't have to add absolutely anything else.
06:30It's my priority, my players, how they come back for the national team.
06:35That is the only thing I'm concerned about.
06:38Hi, Pep.
06:40What will you and the club lose with Chiqui going at the end of the year?
06:44Are you looking forward to working with Hugo Valladares?
06:49Well, a part of me is leaving, I would say.
06:53A friend of mine, I would say the architect,
06:56to create one of the best teams ever from Barcelona at that time,
07:00and now here.
07:01A friend of mine.
07:03I knew the decision for a long time, for family and personal reasons.
07:09I know how grateful he is for this experience here.
07:13Personally, it will be a miss,
07:16but of course it will be a miss a lot.
07:19But for the confidence, for the trust, especially in the bad moments,
07:23because he made me incredibly balanced in my job,
07:28because I'm so energetic when I'm going bad,
07:30I want to destroy everything, and all the time he said,
07:33see you tomorrow, take a coffee.
07:36His balance, to be completely crazy in the other one,
07:40his pulse, helped me a lot in my period in Barcelona and of course here.
07:46But I have the opinion that the club is so solid,
07:50an incredible structure, and it has to be like that,
07:54and all the families have to move on, and the club will move on.
08:00Hi, Pep.
08:01About Chiqui again, he's been here 12 years now,
08:04you're in your ninth year.
08:07Is it fair to say that neither of you expected to be here so long,
08:11and apart from the weather, what's made you stay?
08:16You're right, you're completely right in the spec,
08:19but it happened because we won a lot.
08:22Otherwise my chairman adored me,
08:24but he would have sacked me if the result was not good.
08:28So the relations, whatever happens is there, will be there,
08:32but it has been long because we won a lot.
08:35There are no secrets.
08:37Here it doesn't matter where you were born.
08:39If you don't win, your position, everyone asks you to be sacked.
08:45And if you win and have success, the people support you.
08:48So it's not much, I would say, complicated than that.
08:55Hi, Pep.
08:56There was a period in the first season
08:59where you lost a couple of matches in a row,
09:02or didn't win in a row in the first season you were here.
09:05First season?
09:06Yes, the first season, over eight years ago now.
09:08But how important was his support and backing back then,
09:11when there was some pressure on you,
09:13and people were wondering if you were able to adapt?
09:16Of course I was so grateful, but I was not surprised.
09:18The reason why I came here,
09:20because one of the reasons for the potential future,
09:23but especially because a few friends,
09:25like it was Farhan and Chiqui, were here.
09:27At that time I didn't know my chairman, I didn't know my owner,
09:30I didn't know the players, the backroom staff,
09:32I didn't know almost anyone.
09:34But I knew them, and to me,
09:37to have the hierarchy above me that supported me,
09:40it was not a surprise.
09:42I'm so grateful, because it could be different,
09:44but I worked with them, especially with Chiqui in Barcelona,
09:47and I knew it was going to happen.
09:49Always we try to find a solution, not to blame what is going on.
09:54And that's why you appreciate the bad moments that all the managers will have,
10:00how close the people above you are to you.
10:03And this is what happened.
10:06Have the club said to you when, ideally, they want a decision on your future?
10:12Never, ever. I've done it and I never do it.
10:16Never, I don't feel it.
10:19Do you think there comes a point in the season where they will need to...
10:24Yeah, of course.
10:25But I'm pretty sure that the club have an option when Chiqui should leave,
10:31and they have options when Pep will leave.
10:34Sooner or later it's going to happen, and they are prepared.
10:37So it's not going to be a surprise.
10:39They know that I have to...
10:43Every sport director or manager or whatever,
10:46they have the chance.
10:47That's why I'm here for many years.
10:49I want to be really, really convinced that it's the best for the club.
10:53I will not delay every action, knowing that I am creating a problem for the club.
11:00If I feel there is a problem right now, I will take a decision as quickly as possible.
11:06But I don't have that feeling, because they understand the reasons that I have.
11:10And that's why walls are the priority.
11:15Obviously, Chiqui effectively appointed his successor.
11:20Would you want any input into who takes over from you?
11:25If they asked you, would you give your opinion?
11:27Of course, for the relation I have, if they ask me my opinion, I will give my opinion.
11:30But it's not my job.
11:31The decision will be taken for them, not for me.
11:36It belongs to the club, but if it's my opinion, I will give it to them.
11:39Like friends, like people who share unbelievable moments together.
11:44But it has to be the club, you know?
11:48It's the best.
11:50So I would say the new sporting director, the moment I'm not here anymore,
11:58he has to choose his manager.
12:02Just on your decision, what factors will influence that decision?
12:07Will it be your own personal feeling, will it be your family, will it be the players?
12:13The weather.
12:16I'm waiting to change, and after we take a decision.
12:22In terms of your relationship with the players, that's as strong as ever?
12:26Strong as ever, yeah.
12:29It's good, really good.