“Pep Guardiola was only six months into life as Manchester City coach when he declared, on the second day of 2017, that ‘the process of my goodbye has already started’. Members of the club’s hierarchy spoke in similar terms in those days. They didn’t imagine he was there for the long haul. They were just determined to enjoy it for the length of his initial three-year contract. Anything beyond that would be a bonus. As much to his own surprise as anyone else’s, Guardiola has stayed for almost a decade. He has led City to six Premier League titles and has won the FA Cup twice and the League Cup four times, as well as adding the Champions League, the European Super Cup and the Club World Cup in that glorious year of 2023. But now, as revealed by The Athletic today, there is a growing belief among well-placed sources that this will be his last season in Manchester. …”
NY Times/The Athletic (Video)
If this is Pep Guardiola’s goodbye to English football, his legacy is unique
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“The fingers of Europe and Africa were almost touching and between them, at the end of a golden hour, the sun merged with the horizon. With the sky turning from orange to purple, the serrated edges of Morocco’s extreme north became clearer. The Port of Tarifa in Spain was getting smaller, yet it never disappeared. Laurie Lee described the town as ‘washed-up Africa’ because of its proximity to the continent, which is just nine nautical miles away. From the eastward-facing deck of the Balearia ferry, you could see the white cliffs of Gibraltar. There, you have warm beer, Marks & Spencer, red phone boxes and cannons facing towards the invisible enemies. On the other side, you could see Morocco, with Jebel Musa brooding and the sparsity of the Rif mountain range behind it, which forks sharply like a sheath of daggers. …”
Scissors Kick 