“It has been f***ing fun!” – Every word Pep Guardiola said in Manchester City farewell speech | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola has said his goodbyes to Manchester City after Sunday’s 2-1 Premier League defeat to Aston Villa at the Etihad Stadium, delivering one of the most emotional and memorable farewell speeches in the history of English football.

The result mattered little on a day that belonged entirely to the outgoing manager, with a sold-out Etihad Stadium turning out to pay tribute to the man who has given the club 10 years, six Premier League titles and a maiden UEFA Champions League trophy among a plethora of silverware.

John Stones and Bernardo Silva also played their final games in sky blue on Sunday, with Guardiola having spoken all week about the particular poignancy of sharing his last game in the dugout with two figures who have been so central to everything he has built.

Man City’s future will be better without me, says Pep

Speaking to Sky Sports before kick-off against Unai Emery‘s side, Guardiola’s words carried the warmth and clarity that have defined his public presence throughout his decade in Manchester.

“Having the same leaving day as John, the only one who has been with me 10 years together, and with Bernie, it makes it incredibly special! I love that our last game is together,” he said.

“Now is the time to leave. The future will be, honestly…the past has been really good with us, but the future will be better without me. You have to have special energy and like the club made me these incredible presents, so always I will be surrounding either way in this club!”

The conviction with which Guardiola delivers the line that the future will be “better without me” is revealing – not false modesty, but a genuine belief in the squad, the structure and the direction that the next Manchester City will inherit. It is the same unsentimental clarity that has run through everything he has said in his final weeks.

Guardiola: It has been f***ing fun!

The pitch-side farewell speech was everything the occasion demanded: nervous, funny, tender and utterly unfiltered.

“I’m so nervous, terrified right now. Why do you love me so much? Why do you do this to me?!” the 55-year-old began, to roars from the Etihad Stadium crowd.

“It has been a tremendous honour to be your manager, to be here 10 years. The amount of trophies, incredible emotions. Please. I would love not just to remember the trophies, hopefully we provided through the unbelievable players some emotions that the people who come here feel maybe we’re going to have fun.

“Yesterday my dad Valentin turned 95 years old, woo! Maybe he doesn’t realise, but I’m pretty sure Cris (Guardiola’s ex-wife), an exceptional woman, and my kids realise in many, many years that the name of my family will be here on the Etihad Stadium’s North Stand for many years!”

Guardiola then turned to the newly named Pep Guardiola Stand with characteristic mischief, issuing a warning to the players who will play beneath it in the years ahead.

He added: “The players don’t know it but I will be there controlling them, to make sure that the legacy players… all the players continue!”

Guardiola went on to issue a heartwarming plea to Manchester City fans across the globe. “In the next years, if you find me all around the world and you find me in the streets, here, in Europe, the States: if you are a Man City fan, come to me and hug me! I will need it,” he said.

“It has been the hugest honour to represent this club. Whenever I took a thousand millions decisions with a thousand million mistakes, always I thought what is best for this club, and always it will be like that. I love you SO much! It has been f***king fun!”

What does Guardiola’s departure mean for Man City?

The raw, unguarded joy in those final three words encapsulates a decade better than any trophy count or statistics ever could.

A man who arrived in 2016 with the highest of expectations and somehow exceeded every single one of them: not just in silverware but in the quality of football, the culture of the club and the memories left behind.

City’s 2023 treble winning skipper Ilkay Gundogan wrote this week that “Man City without Pep will never be the same again.” He was right. But as Guardiola himself said on Sunday, the future will be better.

He has made sure of it. And whatever comes next, nobody who was at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon will ever forget the man who stood on that pitch and meant every word of it.