Pep Guardiola has once again highlighted the hypocrisy of it all

During the embargoed section of his pre-game press conference yesterday before his team’s must win game against Tottenham, Pep Guardiola once again highlighted the hypocrisy of it all. The City manager expertly highlighted the fact that his team’s success isn’t solely down to money.

Money is a factor in his Manchester City’s success. There is no doubt about that. It was also a factor in Liverpool’s success in the 70’s and 80’s. It was also ever present in Manchester United’s success during the 90’s. Chelsea joined the party in the 2000’s alongside Manchester United. Manchester City joined the party in 2008 as the financial might of the Sheikh Mansour allowed City the opportunity to compete with the established big boys in English football.

But Manchester City’s financial might isn’t the only reason for the club’s success during the past 15 years. It never has been. The world champions have become one of the best run clubs in European football. With Khaldoon Al-Mubarak at the helm, working alongside Txiki Begiristain and Ferran Soriano and many others it has seen Manchester City’s off-field set up become the envy of many clubs across England and Europe. It is the brains off the field coupled with the genius of Pep Guardiola as manager and the talent, drive, determination, and mentality of the City players that makes Manchester City such a strong and successful club.

The other ‘accusation’ that routinely surfaces at this point of the season is that Manchester City has made the Premier League boring. Or that watching Manchester City chase more silverware is boring. As winners of 5 of the past 6 Premier League titles, there is a misnomer that teams can not compete with City. This is another claim that is wide of the mark. The world champions have been pushed during two of their recent title victories all the way by Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool side. This season and for large portions of last season, Arsenal has gone toe to toe with Manchester City. This season’s title race is set to go down to the final day of the season. That is far from boring.

Pep Guardiola was asked about all of this yesterday. He emphatically put the notion to bed. He said: “Before, do you know what it was? It was the money [that won titles]. For that reason why: Man United should have won all the titles. All of them. And the second, Chelsea, all the titles. And the third Arsenal… all the titles. They spend as much money in the last five years as us. They should be there. They are not there. For that reason, Girona shouldn’t be in the Champions League, and Leicester shouldn’t win the Premier League years ago. Now it’s boring? It’s not boring. It’s so difficult to be here again and we want to win it.” The clip can be seen below courtesy of Beanyman Sports.