A Farewell to Txiki: Five key things from new City Studios documentary | OneFootball

The brand new City Studios documentary on our outgoing Director of Football is now available to watch.

‘A Farewell to Txiki’ is a feature-length deep dive into what made Txiki Begiristain outstanding in his role across 13 years at Manchester City.

The 61-year-old officially left his post at the Club at the end of July having overseen our transition into one of the global superpowers of football.

Speaking to those closest to him at work and at home, ‘Farewell to Txiki’ is not to be missed by anyone with an interest in how City became the club we are today.

It is available to watch now on mancity.com and our official app for any fan with an active CITY+ subscription. New subscribers can get £15 off an annual subscription by using the code SAVE15.

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Here, we’ll detail some of the key findings from the feature…

Post-Pep planning

Over the dinner table in Tast, Txiki recounts the time he told Ferran Soriano that he would handle the transition from Pep Guardiola to our next manager.

That came on the condition that Guardiola would stay in Manchester for a similar length of time to his spells with Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

However, the manager is now into his tenth year at the Etihad Stadium and outlasted Begiristain at the Club!

WATCH: Trailer: ‘A Farewell to Txiki’ – Our new City Studios documentary

Working alongside two of his closest friends at the City Football Academy and continuously being incredibly successful has led Guardiola to extend his contract with City several times.

Guardiola’s latest contract extension – in November 2024 – meant Txiki was prepared to hand that responsibility on.

When the time comes, the responsibility of finding the successor to our greatest ever manager will now fall to Hugo Viana and the remaining leadership team.

Glowing reviews

The testimonies from our biggest stars leave viewers in no doubt whatsoever as to the incredibly high regard Txiki is held in at Manchester City.

Erling Haaland and Rodri are just two of the squad members that describe how his calm, professional outlook helped them in their early days at the Club and in developing into the world-class talents they now are.

That’s not forgetting the way the likes of Soriano, Guardiola, Brian Marwood and Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak have all reflected their time together too.

WATCH: A Farewell to Txiki: Watch our new City Studios documentary

Family man

Txiki is widely renowned for his relaxed yet professional style.

And while his wife and daughter, speaking from their central Manchester apartment, say he is a family man through and through, there is a part of him that has always put the club’s needs first.

A role such as Director of Football demands extensive travel and phone calls day and night, which Txiki has always accepted as part of his duties.

In order to get his job done, his family say he’s missed out on so many special occasions in the name of City.

No wonder the 61-year-old wants to step away to enjoy more time with his loved ones!

Cruyff’s guidance

Speaking to Pep and Ferran at Tast, Txiki explains how there was never a thought in his mind about being a coach.

The former Spain international dives deep into the stresses and strains of a coach’s life that makes him admire them so much before revealing where he thought his post-playing career would lie.

“I was more into the idea of scouting,” he said.

Before Pep jumps in quickly to say: “Until Johan [Cruyff] said, ‘You come here!’”

WATCH: The Pep Effect

The late Dutch player and manager is credited with innovating in football perhaps more than any other figure in the game’s history.

He was also Pep and Txiki’s coach at Barcelona, a crucial period that shaped the rest of their lives and the story of both Barcelona and City after that point.

Finding Hugo

With such an incredible job done over 13 years and a retirement to look forward, Begiristain would have been forgiven for paying little interest in his successor.

Instead, the 61-year-old had a hands-on approach to finding the man to take on his responsibilities and then even spent much of 2025 helping him get to grips with life at City.

Here, he talks about what City fans can expect from Hugo Viana, why the Portuguese man was the perfect fit and what made him want to see the job through to the very end.