Pep Guardiola reveals why has no plans to follow Class of ’92 into football ownership ahead of Man City’s FA Cup clash with Salford City
- Guardiola will be aiming to avoid a huge upset against the League Two club
- The city boss is aiming for three wins in a row after a dismal run of form
- Listen to It all starts! Why Manchester United may have to sell Kobbie Mainoo or Alejandro Garnacho
Pep Guardiola has absolutely no interest in following Gary Neville and Co into football once he steps out of management.
Guardiola – who will face Salford City, co-owned by Neville and members of Manchester United’s famed Class of ’92, in the third round of the FA Cup on Saturday night – was asked if he could ever see himself in the boardroom instead of in the dugout one day.
‘No. I’m not good at that,” Guardiola said.
“I’m a good manager sometimes, but I’m not good as a businessman, 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 very happy that others can make the big decisions off the pitch.
It is a game of huge significance for League Two Salford City and their Class of ’92 owners as they look to secure their ownership’s biggest scalp to date.
Pep Guardiola was asked if he was interested in becoming a football owner
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 isn’t surprised to see them persevering.
“They’ve won a lot of titles, these generational players,” he said.
‘They won a lot of money so they can buy clubs. It’s okay.
“I don’t know which players we are talking about, but they are smart people and when people from football manage football clubs, they always make smart decisions.”
He added: ‘I’ve lived in Salford for the last eight years so I’m going to be playing against my neighbourhood! My birthplace, where I live.
‘I have a lot of respect for the manager [Karl Robinson]. We played at Oxford years ago and he was also Sam Allardyce’s assistant at Leeds.
‘Their last six games have been six clean sheets and six wins. Great respect for them and what they do.
‘We are of course taking it seriously, as we have always done since I arrived. Hopefully we can play a good game and win three in a row, because it’s been a long time.’
City will be aiming to avoid a huge shock when they play Salford in the third round of the FA Cup
City will continue to be without centre-back Ruben Dias, who recently went public with his relationship with TV presenter Maya Jama and John Stones.
Goalkeeper No.1 Ederson is ‘fine’, Guardiola revealed, while Oscar Bobb is making good progress after returning to training but not yet ready to play.