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Pep Guardiola has absolutely no interest in following Gary Neville and Co into football ownership once he steps away from management.
Guardiola – who will take on Salford City, co-owned by Neville and members of Manchester United’s famed Class of ’92, in the FA Cup third round on Saturday night – was asked if he could ever see himself in the boardroom instead of the dugout one day.
‘No. I’m not good on that,’ Guardiola said.
‘I’m sometimes a good manager but as a businessman I’m not good so I’m absolutely not interested in that.’
Guardiola’s brother Pere is chairman at Girona, one of the clubs part of the City Football Group, but Pep is quite happy for others to make the big calls away from the pitch.
It is a game of huge significance to League Two Salford City and their Class of ’92 owners as they look to land the biggest scalp of their ownership to date.
Pep Guardiola was asked whether he had any interest in moving into football ownership
Gary Neville and members of the Class of 92 own Salford City, who play City on Saturday
While there have been bumps in the road for the likes of Neville, Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt and others in the ownership group, Guardiola has not been surprised to see them stick at it.
‘They won a lot of titles, these generational players,’ he said.
‘They won a lot of money so they can buy clubs. It’s good.
‘I don’t know which players are involved but they are smart people and when people from football run football clubs they always take smart decisions.’
He added: ‘I live in Salford for the last eight years so I will play against my neighbourhood! My hometown, where I’m living.
‘I have a lot of respect for the manager [Karl Robinson]. We played years ago at Oxford and he was assistant to Sam Allardyce at Leeds too.
‘Their last six games have been six clean sheets and six victories. Huge respect for them and what they do.
‘We take it seriously, of course, as we always have done since I arrived. Hopefully we can do a good game and make it three wins in a row because it has been a long time since that happened.’
City will be aiming to avoid a huge shock when they face Salford in the FA Cup third round
City will continue to be without centre back Ruben Dias, who recently went public with his relationship with TV presenter Maya Jama, as well as John Stones.
No 1 goalkeeper Ederson is ‘fine’, revealed Guardiola, while Oscar Bobb is progressing well having returned to training but is not yet ready to feature.
