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Welcome! We want to know when to stay and when to go. Coming up today…
🤔 Should Guardiola quit Man City if they win the title?
📮 Sancho sends a message to Ten Hag
👕 The shirt design that led to chaos and a court case
🧀 A cheese course (Cheddar) you should stick around for
Guardiola & Glory: Should Pep quit if City win title?
Long-serving managers calling it quits? It’s a 2023-24 thing. Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp and USWNT-bound Emma Hayes of Chelsea will both call time on eight and 12-year stints at their respective clubs at the end of the campaign.
But should Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola, the Premier League’s second longest-serving manager behind Klopp, follow suit? If City finish the season with an unprecedented fourth consecutive Premier League title, Michael Cox thinks he should.
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Why would now be the right time?
A fourth successive league title is a rare new record for Guardiola, unchartered territory for a man accustomed to making history. After ticking off the Champions League last season, what new ground is there to break?
There would be a satisfaction to bowing out untouchable. Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013 after guiding Manchester United to their 20th league title, while Bob Paisley called it quits after securing a record-equalling sixth title with Liverpool.
Staying on could also present risks to Guardiola’s legacy. What if his former assistant Mikel Arteta pips him to the title with Arsenal? And what about those 115 charges related to financial irregularities between 2009 and 2018 hanging over the club?
Why carry on?
Guardiola could, of course, continue his relentless pursuit of success, hoovering up every last Premier League record in sight until his status as English football’s greatest cannot be disputed. There is no better club, with their infrastructure and resources, to go about achieving that than at City. He has one year remaining on his contract, but there’s no need to stop there.
The football would become more and more pragmatic; four centre-backs would gradually become seven, players under 6ft (183cm) would be phased out.
City might start one season slowly to make it interesting and give those around them false hope, before going on an inevitable 15-match winning run after Christmas. Guardiola would continue to lavish pre-match praise on those coaches inspired by his style — before beating them 4-1 — and praising them again at full time.
If I were Pep, I’d gladly stick around and cement my legacy as one of the league’s greats. But as a football fan, I’d love to see him out of his comfort zone. Trying his hand at international management would be intriguing, or attempting to navigate the challenges of a lower-league side would be even better. Either way, an exit this summer would bring more chaos and unpredictability to the top of the Premier League.
Sancho stars: Were you watching, Erik?
There would have been some interested observers in the red half of Manchester watching Borussia Dortmund’s 1-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League semi-final.
Jadon Sancho, signed by United for £73million ($91m) in 2021, spent four months frozen out of the first team this season. The 24-year-old was banished from the senior squad in September following a very public dispute with manager Erik ten Hag — as ever, it’s complicated — and re-joined Dortmund on loan in January.
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Against PSG, Sancho was reminiscent of the player United signed three years ago. He was the standout player on a pitch that also featured Kylian Mbappe. Sancho played with flair and confidence, completing seven first-half dribbles — more than any player in a Champions League game this season. And, damningly, more than he managed in any United game.
This played out against the backdrop of Ten Hag, the man who sent Sancho away, fighting for his future at United after a turbulent season. His on-loan forward has one foot in a Champions League final while United look destined for the Europa League.
Dortmund take their narrow lead into next week’s second leg in Paris thanks to Niclas Fullkrug’s first-half goal. How about his touch to pluck Nico Schlotterbeck’s pass out of mid-air, by the way? Sublime.
NICLAS FULLKRUG!
A classic number nine goal gives Dortmund the lead 😮💨#UCL | 📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/McDgHgBENA
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) May 1, 2024
DORTMUND STRIKE FIRST ⚡
Schlotterbeck sends a perfect ball over to the top 👌
Füllkrug makes no mistake 🎯 pic.twitter.com/GJ2jytxpbd— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) May 1, 2024
- Dortmund’s victory guaranteed Germany second spot in UEFA’s coefficient table, ensuring the Bundesliga will have five teams in next season’s expanded Champions League.
- NEWS: Ralf Rangnick will not be succeeding Thomas Tuchel at Bayern Munich next season after confirming he will remain as Austria manager.
Team talk: What are Barcelona under Xavi?
- The absence of a certain Lionel Messi means Xavi’s Barcelona attack in a different way to the side he played in — but he has restored their signature high press (above). With Xavi staying for another season, how may his project continue to evolve?
- Phil Hay brought you Arsenal’s master of the dark arts Ben White at his irritating best on Monday. Now, Jordan Campbell dives into his full repertoire of disruptive tactics — from fiddling with a goalkeeper’s gloves to just holding his ground in a perpetually annoying way. Nuisance.
- Football and music go hand in hand: a rousing pre-match anthem, iconic songs adapted into terrace chants and… Everton manager Sean Dyche making a cameo in British indie rock band Blossoms’ new music video?
- One accusation you cannot throw at Wrexham’s Hollywood owners Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds is a lack of ambition. Next on their wishlist? Quadrupling the Racecourse Ground’s capacity to 50,000.
Shirt that caused chaos: Design led to semi-final cancellation
Ever heard of a shirt design getting a match cancelled? You have now. The controversial kit (above) resulted in Moroccan side RS Berkane progressing against USM Alger of Algeria in the Confederation Cup semi-final — without a ball being kicked — and the matter has been escalated to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
It all came about when RS Berkane were authorised by the African Football Federation (CAF) to wear a kit that included the map of the Western Sahara territory, which Morocco and Algeria have long-standing political tensions over.
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The kit was confiscated by customs officials in Algeria, RS Berkane refused to wear replacement shirts, and the CAF deemed USM Alger to be in breach of competition rules. USM then refused to play against a team wearing said shirts in the reverse leg and RS Berkane were awarded a 3-0 win on both occasions.
Cheese Course
Some restaurants save the cheese course until last — in the UK at least — so here’s our final story for you. It’s a cracker!
Cheddar FC of English football’s 10th tier are facing the staggering task of 11 games in 24 days due to postponements caused by flooded pitches earlier in the season. They have two centre-backs ruled out for the campaign with concussion and interim manager Matt Huxtable has had to name himself on the substitutes’ bench on at least five occasions.
You’d imagine they find Guardiola and Klopp’s complaints about the Premier League fixture scheduling rather, ahem, grating.
Catch A Match
UEFA Europa League semi-finals: Olympique Marseille vs Atalanta, 3pm / 8pm; Paramount+ / TNT Sports 3; Roma vs Bayer Leverkusen, 3pm / 8pm; Paramount+ / TNT Sports 2
UEFA Europa Conference League semi-finals: Aston Villa vs Olympiacos, 3pm / 8pm; Paramount+ / TNT Sports 1; Fiorentina vs Club Bruges, 3pm / 8pm; Paramount+ / TNT Sports 5
Premier League: Chelsea vs Tottenham Hotspur, 2.30pm / 7.30pm; Peacock Premium / Sky Sports Main Event
(Top photo: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
