591 games, 416 wins, 20 trophies.
Pep Guardiola will leave Manchester City having secured a legacy as one of English football’s most influential figures, boasting a trophy cabinet that is bettered only by the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson.
Since taking charge of Manchester City in 2016, Guardiola has won six Premier League titles and three FA Cup titles, also lifting the Champions League and FIFA Club World Cup in 2023.
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The 55-year-old helped Manchester City win the League Cup and FA Cup this season, while the club could still snatch the Premier League from Arsenal’s grasp if the Gunners trip at the final hurdle next week.
The club has arranged a parade through Manchester to celebrate this season’s twin triumphs, which could serve as Guardiola’s farewell.
Former Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca is widely expected to replace Guardiola, who was contracted with Manchester City until June 2027.
“Pep’s legacy is far greater than Manchester City,” former City defender Joleon Lescott said.
“His legacy and the importance he has had is huge throughout the football pyramid.
“Pep’s influence on coaches and football in general is far greater than anyone realises.”
Writing for BBC Sport, Phil McNulty celebrated Guardiola’s tactical innovation and focus on possession and passing, including a ‘six-second rule’ to regain lost possession through aggressive, time-limited counter-pressing.
The Spaniard created a brand of football that has been copied from grassroots through to the elite level, with rivals scrambling to mimick his approach.
“In his decade at City, Guardiola has not just shaped elite football and the game in the league’s pyramids. He has had an impact at every level down to grassroots, where even junior coaches adopt his strategies,” McNulty penned.
“As Guardiola has micro-managed City’s players like a great conductor from the sidelines, he has produced teams, styles, and tactical innovations that will provide a framework for the modern game, now and in the future.
“Guardiola has effectively shaped the game’s future at all levels, from Manchester City themselves to the Premier League and throughout Europe.
“Watch football at any level and you will see coaches and players, young and old, mimicking what Guardiola has brought to the game.”
The Athletic’s Daniel Taylor also acknowledged Guardiola’s impact on England’s football landscape, claimed that he “will be remembered among the genuine greats of his profession”.
“Just look how his influence stretches to the lower divisions of English football and the number of teams who have used Project Pep to change their own thinking,” Taylor wrote.
“Look how his tactics have been copied, how it is the norm these days at every level of the sport for attacks to build from the back, and how his methodology has been taken on by a small army of other coaches.
“It is the same all the way down the football pyramid, from kids’ matches to grassroots level. It all starts with Guardiola — a pioneer, a shape-changer, a history-maker, even before taking into account that it would need a small aircraft hangar to store all his trophies.”
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The Athletic’s Thom Harris showed that passing accuracy in the Premier League has increased since Guardiola arrived in England — from 79 per cent in 2016/17 to 83 per cent in 2025/26 — arguing the improvement was no coincidence.
“Before him, English football’s most successful managers championed physicality, directness and quick combinations on the counter-attack,” he said.
“Guardiola sought to slow things down control games with settled possession, and move the ball into spaces that the meticulous planning and player positioning would create.
“Such was the success of Guardiola’s side that teams soon began to imitate his approach… average pass completion statistics through England’s top four leagues crept up as his City team flourished, with more sides prioritising technical players and practising passing patterns to help them play through the press.”
However, The Telegraph’s Oliver Brown questioned the timing of Guardiola’s exit, arguing the pending announcement comes as a “distraction” for Manchester City ahead of two must-win matches against Bournemouth and Aston Villa.
“What rankles, for both the club and the manager, is the timing,” Brown penned.
“There is an artform to delivering an announcement this seismic, and the final week of a Premier League season, with City still technically in contention for another domestic treble, is assuredly not the moment.
“Everything will be perceived through the prism of his decision to leave, a distraction that City can ill afford as they chase an astounding 21st trophy of his reign.
“For such a control freak, the messy handling of this separation goes against his very nature.”
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Meanwhile, the timing of Guardiola’s exit comes with the outcome of an investigation into more than 100 alleged breaches by City of financial regulations still to be released.
First charged by the Premier League in February 2023, an independent commission hearing concluded in December 2024 with the case hanging over City’s achievements on the pitch ever since.
Manchester City will face Bournemouth on Wednesday at 4.30am AEST and Aston Villa on Monday at 1am AEST.
— with AFP