Despite not being found guilty: what price will Guardiola pay over Manchester City's scandal?
The dream of coaching the national team is over!
The historic ruling against Manchester City carried a cost that went beyond the financial. It also killed a dream that had gripped English football for years, slamming the door shut on Pep Guardiola ever taking charge of the England national team.
Guillem Balague, the renowned Spanish journalist and author of Guardiola's biography "Pep Guardiola: Another Way of Winning", revealed that the latest financial scandal has ended any prospect of the legendary coach managing the Three Lions.
The role had tempted Guardiola enormously. According to Balague, a verbal agreement was already in place in 2024 for him to take the job, only for the coach to pull out at the last moment and stay at Manchester City on a fresh contract. That U-turn pushed the English FA towards Thomas Tuchel as their back-up plan.
Balague told talkSPORT: "Did you know that Pep Guardiola made the English Football Association wait for two months to find out whether he wanted to take the post of England national team manager? Instead, he stayed at Manchester City, renewed his contract, and then they turned to Tuchel. In my opinion, Guardiola was always a candidate after Tuchel's departure."
"At present, I don't think the English Football Association would want to appoint someone who causes division in the world, or in England at least, as Pep Guardiola will from now on," he added. "There is no doubt that this will happen regardless of the consequences of the investigation and the cases."
He went on: "Because perhaps he feels that there are many who care about his legacy, but from his point of view, it was a very good job."
No evidence suggests Guardiola knew about the 100-plus charges City were convicted of between 2009 and 2018. But his declaration of full support for the club, which insists on its innocence and has launched a formal appeal against the ruling, put him in the public's line of fire.
Guardiola had written a stirring message to City's fans on social media: "I want every Manchester City fan in the world to know that I am here, more than ever. I always have and always will support my club, its owner, its chairman, the players, the technical staff, Enzo, and you, our special fans. Let me assure you: we will get through this ordeal together, I love you all."
That absolute loyalty, Balague believes, has opened a deep rift between Guardiola and footballing opinion in England. City stand accused of using fake contracts to inflate their revenues by more than 900 million pounds. The rift may have ended his dream of working inside the St George's Park headquarters for good, whatever the appeal delivers.
