- Pep Guardiola has revealed a timeline for when he would quit Manchester City
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Pep Guardiola has warned he will quit Manchester City in a month’s time if he cannot turn around the club’s torrid form.
City go into Sunday afternoon’s Manchester derby with just one win in 10 and suffered a miserable 2-0 defeat at the hands of Juventus in midweek, leaving them at risk of an early Champions League exit.
He has never before faced a crisis of this magnitude in his managerial career and City have slipped to fifth in the Premier League behind Nottingham Forest.
The month ahead consists of tests against United, Aston Villa, Everton, Leicester, West Ham, Salford City, and Brentford.
And Guardiola says he would call time on his eight-year tenure at the Etihad the moment he has lost the dressing room – despite signing a contract extension until 2027 last month.
‘When I feel it is time to leave, I will leave. If I’m losing and losing and losing one month more, I will say, “guys, it has to come someone else to fix these kind of things,” because it cannot be eternal,’ he said.
Pep Guardiola has claimed he would leave Manchester City in a month’s time if they cannot turn around their form
City have won just one of their last 10 games and are struggling in the Champions League
Guardiola said he would not hesitate to leave the moment his players ‘don’t follow’ him
‘There is one thing when I would say, “Pep, you have to think about it,” is when I lose the team, when I feel they don’t run. They don’t follow me.
‘In that moment, not one minute would we be here. But more than ever I am there. There’s no doubt about that.
‘The greatest achievement has already been done. We have been the best.
‘But now it’s made me realise how difficult it was what we have done and, when we come back, of course it will be, wow, we will not forget those moments. Because we want it and we do it and we are not able.’
Guardiola has been under pressure in recent weeks and he even endured a seven-game winless run – the worst spell of his illustrious managerial career.
They ended that slump with a storming 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest earlier this month, with Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, and Jeremy Doku netting.
It has been a stressful time for Guardiola, who scratched himself in City’s 3-3 Champions League draw with Feyenoord – in which they blew a 3-0 lead late on.
After winning a fourth consecutive title by two points over Arsenal last season, and finishing nine points ahead of Liverpool, City are now the same number behind Arne Slot’s pacesetters.
City face Manchester United on Sunday afternoon as they continue a grulling Christmas period
It has been a stressful period for Guardiola, who scratched himself during the 3-3 draw with Feyenoord
He appeared in a post-match press conference with a deep cut on his nose and various red marks on his head.
‘Yes, it’s from my nail on my finger,’ he said. ‘I cut myself with my fingernail (during the game). I want to hurt myself.’
Guardiola subsequently apologised for the comment as some thought he had been talking glibly about self-harm.
He said: ‘I was caught off guard with a question at the end of a press conference last night about a scratch which had appeared on my face and explained that a sharp fingernail had accidentally caused this,’ Guardiola wrote.
‘My answer was in no way intended to make light of the very serious issue of self harm.’
