My farewell speech to Manchester City squad was a disaster, admits Pep Guardiola | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola has admitted that his speech announcing the news of his departure to the Manchester City squad was a disaster.

The Catalan will take charge of his final game in charge of the Blues against Aston Villa at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, when the City faithful will bid farewell to Guardiola as well as departing stars Bernardo Silva and John Stones.

Manchester City announced on Friday afternoon that Guardiola will bring the curtain down on his managerial spell at the Etihad Stadium this summer, deciding against seeing out the final year of his contract.

City are expected to confirm the appointment of Enzo Maresca as Guardiola’s successor soon, with the former City EDS and first-team assistant coach set to take over from his former boss just months after parting ways with Chelsea.

Pep: Farewell speech to players was a disaster!

In his final pre-match press conference representing Manchester City, Guardiola was asked how and when he broke the news of his exit to his players.

Revealing that he only confirmed his departure to the first-team squad on Friday morning – the same as it was made public – the Catalan said: “The speech was a disaster! I was so nervous, more than ever!”

On the ninth anniversary of the Manchester Arena bombing, Guardiola was also probed on how proud he feels of the Mancunian culture he has inherited during an illustrious, trophy-laden decade at the Etihad Stadium.

“When you live 10 years here, you know all the corridors of the city; the good and bad ones,” the Manchester City manager added.

“Cris (Serra), the mother of my kids and my little daughter was in the (Manchester) Arena in that moment (during the attack of 2017) and they were lucky that other people were not. And every year – and today is the ninth anniversary, I express to my family a lot.”

An open bus parade on Monday will celebrate the successes of Manchester City’s men’s and women’s sides of the season, with the former winning the Carabao Cup and FA Cup double and the latter claiming the WSL title.