Pep Immerse Himself In Man City’s Successes And Failures

Reports this week suggest that Pep Guardiola has been immersing himself in Manchester City history ever since he knew he would be joining the Premier League. He’s said to have been watching DVDs of matches last season and reading up on the club’s roots, as well as making secret visits to the City Football Academy.

As the 2016-17 season draws ever nearer, and director of football Txiki Begiristain hunts for players to add to the squad — potentially including Nolito — following the £21 million capture of Ilkay Gundogan from Borussia Dortmund, it’s understandable that the fans are beginning to get a little bit excited. The coming campaign could prove to be one of the best in the club’s history, as the team will go in as one of the favourites for the title and with a serious chance of further progression on the European stage.

Yet on top of that, there’s a small sense of irony that Guardiola could oversee the greatest era at Manchester City, after nearly being a part of one of the worst spells the fans have ever had to endure. In August 2005, then City boss Stuart Pearce gave Guardiola a trial but turned down the opportunity to sign the midfielder.

The 2005-06 season started pretty well. Just two defeats in their first nine games left City in the top four heading into November, but things fell apart dramatically as they lost nine of their last 10 fixtures. In mid-March, they were ninth and within three points of a UEFA Cup spot. By the end, they were 15th, nine points off the relegation zone and 20 away from Europe.

The form carried on through 2006-07, the year many supporters gave up and chose to do other things with their Saturday afternoons. Goals were lacking — City managed 10 in the Premier League at home all season and none of them came after New Year’s Day — and chance creation was at rock bottom.

Georgios Samaras, Bernardo Corradi, Darius Vassell and Emile Mpezna, the club’s four strikers, hit the net 17 times between them in all competitions. It’s probably a good job for the fans that Guardiola was never a part of that team, or it might have scarred him for life and put him off returning.

Going into the new campaign — a decade on from a season in the top flight that most regard as worse than any in which City were actually relegated — supporters can sit comfortably in the knowledge that Sergio Aguero alone will probably surpass that quartet’s strike record on his own, barring injury.

With last season’s squad underperforming somewhat, perhaps the more interesting aspect of Guardiola’s appointment at the Etihad isn’t the arrivals that will link up with him but rather the revolution the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss could lead with the players that remain.

Gundogan will add some much-needed mobility and quality to an ageing midfield when he returns from injury, and more will be expected if the club can also secure the signatures of the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Leroy Sane or John Stones. But what can the new manager get out of Eliaquim Mangala, Nicolas Otamendi or Fernando that wasn’t on show previously?

As Guardiola studies the history books to read about Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison’s 1970 double-winning team, or the 1976 League Cup victory, or Paul Dickov’s equaliser in the 2-2 draw with Gillingham at Wembley, or the 1904 FA Cup win, he might be advised to quickly skim through the era where he very nearly joined as a player.

Bizarrely, many supporters are very proud of their history of failure, too — and that’s something Guardiola needs to understand if he’s really going to get to grips with what “Typical City” is.

That’s Denis Law scoring six goals in a match against Luton, only for the game to be abandoned and City to lose the replay 3-1 in 1961. That’s being the only English club ever to be relegated while being reigning champions in 1938. That’s being the only team to both score and concede 100 goals in a season — 1957-58. That’s holding the ball by the corner flag in a 2-2 draw with Liverpool in 1996, thinking it was enough to stay up when it wasn’t.

Whatever happens from August, the one thing the fans can bank on is that it’s not going to be dull — although, 2006-07 aside, it very rarely is. They can also thank their lucky stars they’ve got Guardiola, 11 years after they tried to get him the first time.