Pep Guardiola says winning at Manchester City means more than at his previous clubs

Since Pep Guardiola has taken charge as manager of Manchester City in the Premier League back in 2016, he’s collected a total of ten trophies across all competitions. He’s won three Premier League titles, one FA Cup, two Community Shields, and three EFL cups. The Champions League title is the only piece of silverware he has gotten his hands on as City boss, though they were runners up last time around, having lost the final to Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea side. At Bayern Munich, Guardiola collected three Bundesliga titles, two DFB-Pokals, a UEFA Supercup, and a FIFA Club World Cup title. However, in a recent press conference, the manager revealed that it means more winning titles at City than it did at the previous clubs he managed (Evening Standard).

“When you are at Manchester City, I promise, you realize nobody helps you. No-one. Everything we have done, we’ve done it. That’s why I’m so satisfied. When you’re in a higher club, big clubs, I understand. Here — no. What we win, we do it. I know it perfectly. That’s why all the titles I won before is because I was at big clubs. Absolutely [it means more at City]. The pleasure is higher,” Guardiola said in the press conference after City’s 4-1 win over Club Brugge. In the same match day, RB Leipzig drew 2-2 with Paris Saint-Germain at the RedBull Arena, which gave City some breathing room at the top of Group A.

Of course, the inner workings and constructs of Bayern Munich and Manchester City are entirely different, much like the collective comparisons of the Bundesliga and the Premier League. There’s the obvious argument of the financial backings of both clubs that would make one question what, exactly, Pep is referring to when he says “nobody helps you” at City. No Premier Club has spent more than City in the past five years in transfers and they’re coming off of a season where they purchased Jack Grealish from Aston Villa for 100 million pounds and were very realistically close to signing Harry Kane from Tottenham for upwards 120 million pounds. It’s absurd to suggest that their finances from their Emirati ownership haven’t aided in the serial success in England.

Photo by Victoria Haydn/Manchester City FC via Getty Images

At Bayern, Pep wasn’t exactly lacking in finances, either, but he’s perhaps making reference to the front office structure in the club, where the dynamic structure is assuredly different than it is at City. Bayern’s front office, executive board and supervisory board all have a say in varying degrees of what decisions get made at the club and there’s a strong presence of “Bayern DNA” within those constructs. It’s a lot different than a setup where it’s something along the lines of “here’s the money, get it done.” In that sense, what Pep’s saying could very well be true and any successful manager with his background would be saying the same thing, but from the outside looking in, it might be slightly difficult to see that with the funds available to him.