“How’s Jupp?” Pep Guardiola reportedly asked the first time it was announced he was taking a job from a sixtysomething title-winning manager, Bayern Munich’s Jupp Heynckes, in 2013.
Whether Manuel Pellegrini was afforded the same consideration remains unclear, but there is no doubt the 62-year-old warrants it. "How's Manuel?" will not have been answered with: "Smashing up his office and sticking pins in a figurine of you."
The manner of the Manchester City manager's exit, or at least confirmation of it, was in keeping with the "charming man" reputation the Chilean has established during his three seasons at the Etihad Stadium. Pellegrini had finished taking questions about tonight's Premier League trip to Sunderland when, as though a mere footnote, he concluded his press conference with news that June 30th would be his last day after all.
“They are not doing anything behind me,” said City’s manager of the club’s deal with Guardiola. “I knew this one month ago.”
Then he was up and out of the door, pausing only to confirm the departure date en route. No bitterness, no recrimination, no emotion; just a dignified response from an experienced football man who accepts the business he is in.
Pellegrini has been here before, losing his job at the Bernabéu in 2010 owing to the availability of José Mourinho and his failure to overhaul Barcelona, despite winning Real Madrid’s then-record points total of 96 in a La Liga season. Guardiola again.
Pellegrini knew of City’s deal with the two-times Champions League winner at the start of January, but said nothing, preferring to focus on keeping the team in four competitions.
Having guided City to the Capital One Cup final, the fifth round of the FA Cup, the last 16 of the Champions League and second in the Premier League, three points behind leaders Leicester City, it goes without saying that Pellegrini, as his employers’ statement said, “is entirely focused on achieving his targets for the season ahead and retains the respect and commitment of all involved with the leadership of the club”.
City will hope the Guardiola effect repeats itself before he sets foot in the door and, as with Heynckes, Pellegrini bows out with a title or three.
The impending arrival of one of the finest coaches in the game could concentrate minds at the City, as it did at Bayern, but, according to Jürgen Klopp, there was far more to their treble-winning campaign of 2013 than Heynckes’s farewell.
Klopp, who suffered more than most from Bayern’s reaction as they beat his Borussia Dortmund team to both the Champions League and Bundesliga title, said: “Maybe [City’s announcement will focus players on silverware], but it is up to the team. Don’t forget, the 2013 treble-winning team of Bayern was unbelievably strong and they had all their players fit until the end. There were other factors, too, like them losing a few titles in the years before. Jupp Heynckes and his team worked really good together but they didn’t work well together because he had said he was leaving at the end of the season.”
The Liverpool manager believes a mid-season announcement of change can also have a detrimental effect, and admits he considered delaying confirmation of his departure from Dortmund last season.
“I don’t think you can compare City’s situation with mine,” Klopp said. “I think I announced I was leaving in March [it was April 15th]. I was really close with my team and the whole club. Okay, I made the decision, but everybody knew about it. I told the players, and there was no party afterwards. One player said: ‘Okay, let’s enjoy the last few months we have together.’ That’s what we did.
“I don’t know how it is inside other clubs, but in Germany we use the same phrase as you do here: a lame duck. A lot of people thought it could be like this, but it wasn’t for us, thankfully.”
Whether Pellegrini resembles Heynckes or a lame duck will be revealed, but, amid the excitement at City’s coup with Guardiola, his role in the succession should not be overlooked.
– Guardian Service
