Pep's Manchester Masterpiece: A Ten-Year Journey
It Was What It Was : The Football History Podcast
The Overlap
4.9 • 667 Ratings
🗓️ 10 February 2026
⏱️ 56 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome back to It Was What it Was, the football history podcast. Co-hosts Jonathan Wilson and Rob Draper delve into Pep Guardiola’s story at Manchester City 10 years on from his appointment at the club and the difficulties he would face in his opening season. Join us as we explore the highs and lows, from the thrilling victories to the unexpected defeats. We discuss his controversial decisions, key matches, and the significant signings that shaped the team's future. Can Pep's philosophy adapt to the rigors of English football? Discover how one of the world's most acclaimed coaches navigated his debut season and set the stage for a legacy at the Etihad. Don't miss out on the in-depth analysis and special bonus content available exclusively on our Patreon page, following the link below:
https://www.patreon.com/cw/ItWas
00:00 Exciting News: Join Our Patreon Community!
02:51 Introduction
04:47 Pep Guardiola's First Season Struggles
07:56 The Tactical Challenges and Key Matches
15:52 Pep's Appointment and Early Expectations
22:02 Transfer Market Moves and Squad Challenges
27:53 Yaya Touré's Controversial Exit
28:56 Manchester City's Winning Streak
30:34 Champions League Group Stage Drama
32:02 Pep's Concerns and Criticisms
43:49 Champions League Humiliation
51:44 End of a Disappointing Season
53:19 Looking Ahead: Pep's Future at City
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello. Now, before we get into today's episode, some extremely exciting news, the doors of our |
| 0:08.8 | patron community are open. So please do come and join us there. It's only $4.99 a month, an absolute |
| 0:17.9 | bargain. You can find us at patreon.com if you search for it was what it was. |
| 0:23.2 | The link will be in the bio. But Rob, why don't you tell all our prospective members the kind |
| 0:28.8 | of goodies they can find in our club? |
| 0:32.3 | Well, there's all sorts of goodies, but particularly this week, you'll go about to listen |
| 0:36.0 | to Pep Guardiola and his 10-year |
| 0:38.2 | anniversary of joining up to Manchester City. And the special bonus edition we're doing, which |
| 0:43.5 | will but only be available to Patreon subscribers, is really judging Pep's legacy over the last 10 years |
| 0:49.2 | in English football and whether indeed he is the most influential coach ever, in fact, to work in |
| 0:53.8 | English football, |
| 0:54.8 | which is a big claim. But I think there is some evidence that would suggest that that might |
| 0:59.7 | well be the case. But you'll have to come on and listen to the episode to find out whether we do |
| 1:03.6 | conclude that. But there's lots more on our Patreon. There's a World Cup countdown where we're |
| 1:07.4 | going through every tournament. We're flicking through old shoot magazines. |
| 1:15.7 | We're doing Q&As. But really, we're really excited because it will allow us to do more of these bonus episodes and dig deeper into the episodes and really explore the in-depth |
| 1:20.5 | themes that do sometimes come up and we don't have time to go into in one hour. So do come and |
| 1:26.7 | join us. So that Guadiola bonus will be available on Friday. But if you go now, there's already a lot of exciting content. So there's the first of our welcome countdowns where we look at 1930. There's a bonus to last week's episode on Lewis Figo, where we look at the whole Galactica's project. |
| 1:45.2 | There's Rob and I flicking through an old copy of shoot. |
| 1:48.1 | I think this one is from December 1983 with with Esper Olson on the front and some very exciting adverts for Walkman, which Rob gets really quite into in an alarming way. |
| 1:59.6 | And then on Wednesday, we'll have the second of our |
| 2:01.6 | World Cup countdowns before Guadillo on Friday. |
... |
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