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Full Transcript Of Noel Gallagher's Interview With Pep Guardiola












Is there any better person to welcome Pep Guardiola to Manchester City than Noel Gallagher?

The Spaniard, appointed in February to replace Manuel Pellegrini, has arrived in the city this week to begin his task of bringing the Premier League title and European glory to the Etihad.

But before then, the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss met arguably the club's most influential and iconic fan - Oasis star Gallagher - and discussed the motivation behind his move to England, his expectations and his desire to work with the club's young players.


NG: So, El Senor: The Man. Welcome to Manchester... I see you brought the weather with you?

PG: The reason I came here was for the weather. I'll have to wear my coat.

NG: A new era at the club. Back to the old badge, a new manager. Why did you choose to come to City now and how tough is the task going to be?

PG: I chose Man City because they wanted me a long time ago, because Txiki and Ferran are here. I've know them for a long time - I played with Txiki and Ferran was on the board during my first period in Barcelona.

The challenge is to play as well as possible. We always want to win titles, how successful we will be will be a consequence of how we are going to play. I want to convince these guys to play as well as possible and try to make the fans across the world to be proud of how we play.

NG: All football fans will be excited to see you and if you weren't coming to City we'd be fascinated to see how it was going to play out. 

Thank God you're here, it's going to be amazing. How have you prepared for the Premier League from afar? Have you any preconceptions about how it's going to be?

PG: I don't want any preconceptions before, no. I have to learn as much as possible. I have an idea how we are going to play but I learned in Germany - I arrived there with an idea and after I [found] I should change.

NG: Did you speak to any of the other managers who have been to England? When they come from other countries they quickly become obsessed with the place. They become addicted to the place...

PG: They told me it was so hard, so tough. All the people say 'Pep is not going to adapt good in that way' so that is why I'm here - to try and do it. Some of the people are confident it's going to go well but some of them - in Germany as well - say the way I play is not possible here in the Premier League.

So I said to myself 'why not travel there to try it?' It's a big challenge, not just for me, but always in my teams I was able to involve the players and it's going to happen here as well. When that happens everything will be easy.

NG: Are you ready for the intensity of the league? It's relentless, seven days a week... the games come thick and fast. How do you prepare for the workload?

PG: That is true, when you look at the statistics over the last two, three, four, five years in the Premier League every team wins and then loses the other ones. It's difficult to find one team with five, six victories in a row. It's so difficult to find it. It happened in one season, when Leicester won and was an amazing surprise for everybody.

That is amazing. What I have to do to control that - to avoid that, not to lose more often - I don't know. I've never been here before, I've never experienced here.

That's why I am here. If we are able to win one game and then say 'why can't we win again?' and then another one week later why can't we try again to win like we did in the last two games. That is the reason I am here. In Barcelona and Bayern - in Spain, in Germany - we were able to do that and people say 'ah, because we were in Barcelona and Bayern'. Yes, that's true. People say 'you will not be able to do that in England'. Ok, let's do it. We're going to try.

NG: So, we're at the City Football Academy. An amazing place. Some of our younger teams have won their respective leagues in three different age groups. How are you going to get involved in the academy side?

PG: I grew up at maybe the best academy in the world at Barcelona. When I arrived [as manager] in the first team I knew most of the players - [Sergio] Busquets for example, Pedro and others.

If you have the talent, quality and enough passion to become something in the world of football... if they show me something they will be in my hands. It depends on the quality of the players.

I'm a good trainer but not good enough for the players who don't have quality to convince them to play.

NG: Would you like to see it [the academy] with your own eyes or rely on your coaching team to look at the younger players?

PG: First of all I have to know them. In the pre-season all the big talents are going to join us - all of them. After they have to show me how good they are.

After my intuition (taps nose)... maybe sometimes I'll be right, maybe sometimes I make a mistake. But it depends on them. I'm not a genius to come here and say 'oh you are not good and now you are good'. But people tell me the academy at Manchester City compared to other places they have very very good talents.

NG: There are seven top managers in the world, only two don't work in the Premier League now - Carlo Ancelotti and Diego Simeone. Are you looking forward to locking horns with Jurgen Klopp, Claudio Ranieri, Antonio Conte... another guy across the road?

PG: Of course we know each other and the way they play. We're going to start to play and afterwards we're going to meet each other better. You have an idea but it depends on the quality of players you have. Normally I have a very good relationship with my colleagues so it is not a problem.

NG: Manchester is to become the centre of the football universe with two new coaches. The press are relentless... how do you plan to deal with that?

PG: The managers when we win and happy in the press conference we are funny guys, comfortable with the media. When you lose and people say b******* you are angry and don't speak properly so that is how it is. But I lived in Barcelona - the people in Madrid are absolutely crazy. I've never had a press conference with the English media here and I'm looking forward to what's going on. I can survive, no problem.

NG: You say you only really stay anywhere for three or four years, so do you intend to build a legacy here or at least put the foundations in place?

PG: I have come to learn – that's why I move on. If I was building legacies then I would have stayed in Barcelona.

NG: Is it true that Stuart Pearce turned you down when you were a player? 

PG: I came here at when the club was at the other training ground. I have to say that Stuart Pearce was right because I came here at 33, 34 years old and at that age for a player it was a disaster. It was intelligent not to pick me up. My dream was to play in the Premier League. He offered me six months but I would have had to move my family and so in the end we decided not but if you analyse my physical condition at the time I think it was the right decision.

NG: Were you looking at Manchester City last season and worrying we wouldn't get in the Champions League? We were worried you weren't going to bother coming! 

PG: I wasn't worried. I was coming to Manchester, I was never going to stay at home. But we are not in the Champions League, we have to be clear. That situation is now in this moment better than Manchester United's though.

NG: We like to think you went out of your way to avoid City in the Champions League last season. What would it have been like to play us? 

PG: I don't know the players from Manchester City so it wasn't a problem. I know some to say hello to but not personally to have a coffee with or anything. It's better like this because you can make decisions easier but we are going to meet each other. I have spoken to Vincent Kompany and we have had a little brief.

NG: You have a reputation of being a very intense coach, but when you left Bayern Munich the players only had great things to say about you. How do you balance driving the players on but still maintaining their respect?

PG: It's difficult to think about what people think about you. I think they know I am here 24 hours a day thinking about them. I love my job and what I do. They have to know and they will realise that I am here just thinking and working for them. That is maybe the reason why some of them – because people who don't play hate me! – but those who try to understand the game and why we do some things and not the other situation we have a good relationship.

At the end our job is to convince the other guy that this is the best way to cross the road. Tactics are important, as are training and facilities but in the end it is what I have to do to convince them. Maybe with you, we take a beer in the bar and this will convince you and with other ones maybe we talk tactics, or with others maybe we don't talk football. It depends on the player.

NG: How would you sum up your time in Bayern Munich now, looking back on it?

PG: It was amazing. I know for some people it was a big failure because we didn't win the Champions League but for the other side it was one of the best decisions in my life to go there. When I went to America after my time at Barcelona I went there to improve my level of English but after two months I signed the contract at Bayern Munich.

At Bayern it is so demanding. You have to win and win and win or they sack you. But it is a fantastic club and especially during my time there we had amazing players with a huge mentality. That is the big difference.

NG: Three years from now when you threaten to leave and we tie you to a chair, because we won't let you leave, what does success look like for Manchester City? 

PG: For the media it is how many titles you are going to win. That is success or not. But while titles are amazing, two days after you lift it people say what's next? The process here is being comfortable working with these guys. At the end my life depends on that. I'll be happy when we decide to play in a way and it works. I am sure the club will be fantastic and the people I am working with are going to help me. I am sure that will happen. It happened at Barcelona and it happened at Bayern Munich.

It will happen here. We are going to fight every day to lift the titles but especially for the people when the game finishes and they think '90 minutes that was not bad, I would have preferred to be here than in the bar' that will be a good signal. Finally, the relationship with the people. Maybe because I am a Latin guy I have to be close with the guys, to say 'I'm going to kill you' and five minutes later to love each other. I need that to be happy and I hope that in three years that is going to happen.

NG: The stadiums are always full in England so what are you expecting from the fans and the atmosphere? 

PG: When I came to England to play in the Champions League with Barcelona and Bayern Munich the atmosphere was the big difference compared to the rest of the world. There is no doubt about that. I hope they are going to help me to please our fans. We need their help. Our fans are going to be proud of our players. They are going to fight and they are going to be proud to be Manchester City fans. I am sure of that.

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

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