7 hours ago
14
Khaldoon al-Mubarak has revealed Pep Guardiola “quit 100 times” as Manchester City manager, with the chair comparing the 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 him at City.
“We have become close friends. I don’t know if he will admit it, but I consider myself his psychiatrist,” Mubarak said. “I had to help him over the years. There’s the story, 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. 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 the real time, the real moment Pep decides it’s time.
“There’s the moments that are not real and he needs someone to bring him back. And there was always going to be one moment where it was going to be real.”
The Boy Who Cried Wolf is the story of a shepherd boy who falsely raises the alarm that a wolf is attacking sheep. When the wolf does so, no one believes him.
Mubarak understood when Guardiola did genuinely wish to leave. “He knew – and I knew that he knew – and that’s why it was the right thing for him and it was the natural thing,” the chair said. “I did not fight this at all because I knew this was the time he meant it.”
With Enzo Maresca lined up as Guardiola’s replacement, Mubarak is confident City will continue to win titles. “We are far from peaked. I look at where the club was in 2008 [when Sheikh Mansour bought he club], and then I look at every part of the last 18 years.
“Roberto Mancini brought that first Premier League title [in 2012], we will never forget those moments. It was a great period then – a first FA Cup win [the year before]. And then Manuel [Pellegrini] came in, same thing, another Premier League title and more success. Then Pep, and it was getting that mindset, that DNA of a winning club.
“This is a club that is designed, built to win. What Pep has given us has taken us to the next level and we’re so thankful for what he’s helped build here.”
Mubarak was speaking before Enrique Riquelme, the Real Madrid presidential candidate, held up a Madrid shirt with Erling Haaland’s name on the back and claimed a clause in the striker’s contract would allow him to sign Haaland if elected.
While City have threatened legal action, Mubarak spoke of Haaland’s value. “He was always a leader from the first day he stepped into this club [in summer 2022]. He comes in with such character and charisma and when you are a superstar, when you are a goalscoring machine like he is, inevitably you’re a leader and he’s got that personality.”
