Pep Guardiola ‘threatened to quit 100 times’ as Manchester City manager

Khaldoon al-Mubarak has revealed Pep Guardiola “quit 100 times” as Manchester City manager, with the chair comparing the Catalan’s empty threats to The Boy Who Cried Wolf, one of Aesop’s Fables. Guardiola left City last month after 10 successful years during which he led the club to 17 major honours. He initially signed a three-year deal and while he agreed four extensions – in 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024 – he was hesitant each time. Mubarak, who described himself as Guardiola’s “psychiatrist”, was instrumental in keeping his manager at City. “Over these years we have become close friends. I don’t know if he will admit it, but I consider myself his psychiatrist,” Mubarak said. “So I had to help him over the years. There’s the story as you all know, The Boy that [sic] Cried Wolf. In the case of Pep, when he says ‘I quit’, it doesn’t mean he’s quitting. “You don’t take it that seriously, you have to manage him. He never thought he would stay more than four years, then more than five years. So, in his mind, even year four and five it was always: ‘OK, how much more time? How much more time?’ “I would say I always had a very clear understanding with Pep, because of that analogy of the Boy that Cried Wolf. Whenever he quits or whenever he thinks it’s time, I will always convince him to come back, until the time where I know it’s actually the real time, the real moment Pep decides actually it’s time. …