One person I’ve deliberately left out of the above list of managers I’ve enjoyed getting to know over the years is Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola.
I want to talk about Pep separately, because of the rumours that this could be his last season in English football.
My first encounter with him was when I was with West Brom. It was early in Pep’s first Premier League campaign, 2016-17, and Manchester City had just beaten us at home. After the game I made sure my assistant Dave Kemp would get City’s staff in for our customary drink.
I didn’t join him in my room until after I had finished my post-match press conference, but there he was at the table with a glass of wine and chatting to all my staff.
As people will tell you, I forced him to eat with us too, while we discussed his early impressions of the Premier League and English football in general.
Having Kempy and Gerry Francis there meant the conversation never moved from Pep’s own journey, and the fact he had managed one of the greatest club sides ever when he was in charge of Barcelona with Lionel Messi in his team.
He was very humble and proclaimed he could not fail to succeed with – I believe he said – six world-class players in his team, and a genius in Messi who could change games in seconds.
The entire time he was in the room, he never once brushed over any detail asked of him and he impressed everyone who was there that day – even the caterers commented on how warm and engaging he was to them.
Later that same season, our away game at Etihad Stadium was an evening kick-off and after the game Pep came and found me.
We had a drink and again had some food and, during our conversation, Pep got on to his time at Barcelona. I told him I’d never been but one day it may hit my to-do list.
He immediately asked for my email address and said he would invite my wife Debs and I to enjoy all the pleasures that city could and would provide.
I am still terrible with technology now, and was even worse then – so I gave him Debs’ email address because I didn’t have one.
The following weekend, after we’d had another Premier League game, I headed home to discover Pep had sent Debs a to-do list of Barcelona that he had compiled himself, and saying to make sure to contact him before we went to see if he would be around at the same time.
I am also useless at accepting gifts or invitations – even ones like that – and we never took that trip to Barca. Maybe we will go one day, though – and if we do hopefully Pep will be around.
I did not see him for a while when I stepped away from management in 2020, but we stayed in touch. It was the same with some of the other managers I’ve mentioned.
Last year, I helped to put together a documentary for Sky Sports about academy players who are released and what happens to them next, and Sir Alex, Carlo and Pep all provided great interviews for the programme, along with many more top managers.
Football is a family and we mustn’t lose sight of that, whether you are sat at the top table or not. Pep is a great example of someone who gets that – he did not just change football, he is a really genuine guy as well.
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