“I would say that at this time, the reason I signed the contract is for our chairman.” – Pep Guardiola reacts to signing a contract extension

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has this morning signed a two-year extension to his current contract – keeping him at the club until 2023. 

Speaking to the club’s official website, Guardiola has described his delight in agreeing to an extension; “As a manager, I have everything that I need. Of course, all managers depend on results, obviously me as well and we have to win to continue. I saw many times in the bad moments how the people here support me.”

The boss has now committed to the club longer than any other in his managerial career, and he’s named the Chairman as the main reason he’s decided to stay.

“Of course, Ferran [Soriano] and Txiki [Begiristain], but especially Khaldoon, our chairman, was the main reason I decided to continue. I would say that at this time, the reason I signed the contract is for our chairman. Especially for the conversations that we had. He convinced me that still we have to move forward, to try to do it, to continue what we have done in these incredible last four years together.

We have had long talks this week together, we put both sides to continue or not and in the end we decided that the best for all of us is to continue because still we have the feeling that there is unfinished business and still there is something to do – continue what we have done in the last years,” Guardiola proclaimed.

(Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

In terms of targets, even he knows he has to continue to deliver success if he’s to remain at the helm; “This club won in the recent past, but together we won a lot and we won a lot and we won again. The target at this club like in the past has not won a lot of titles is continue to try to maintain the structure of the club as long and as much as possible,” Guardiola began.

“I have the desire to help with all the fantastic players we have for the next years, especially for the fans and we will feel proud of the way we play and the way we win.”

Guardiola, as usual, had a lot of praise for his vast team of backroom staff, who have been with him since day one; “Everyday, I talk to my backroom staff. So for me, it’s more important my relationship I have with Juanma [Lillo], Rodolfo [Borrell], Carles [Planchart], with all the physios, all the doctors we have, Max [Sala], who did an incredible job in this difficult period with lockdown.

It’s not just Txiki and Ferran, that is important, but it’s also important the people I work with every single day.The chefs, the sports analysts, Marc Boixasa is an incredibly important person for us in this organisation. I would say a lot of them. This is the reason I decide to continue. I work every day with them, I want to be comfortable with them. If I wasn’t comfortable with them, I wouldn’t have extended my contract.”

(Photo by PAUL ELLIS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

And finally, Guardiola had a message for the Manchester City fans; “I don’t want to leave without saying hello and maybe bye in the in the stadium. All the clubs we need fans, but of course especially I am talking about ours.

They must know we think a lot about them when we play, especially at home. How empty and sad it is. But hopefully it will finish soon and finally we can be together. I want them to be proud. I know we did it in the past, the way we played in the last few years. But we are looking forward to it again in the stadium.

“I never forget when I learned about when these fans were in Maine Road, in the second division, not fighting where we are now, and 35,000 follow the team. When that happens, that shows how special a club is. It’s not just about winning titles. Of course it’s important but sometimes it’s more important to not forget what we were. What we are right now is really, really good and the target again is fighting all together. We want to maintain this level in UK, Europe as best as possible,” he concluded.

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