Things moved quickly in Manchester City’s world during the October international break.
Within days of it being revealed by The Athletic that director of football Txiki Begiristain would step aside at the end of the season, the club confirmed that Hugo Viana will be coming in to replace him.
The bigger implication, though, appeared to be what it meant for manager Pep Guardiola’s future, especially given a flurry of links to the vacant England job at the start of the week. Within about 24 hours, though, Thomas Tuchel had landed that gig and, as it stands, there are more noises about Guardiola, whose current contract runs out next summer, staying at City for one more year than going anywhere else.
That is still to be decided, and City are lining up replacements in case Guardiola does not stay — Ruben Amorim and Xabi Alonso have featured in conversations. Earlier this week, club staff received an email regarding some new faces in City Football Group (CFG) business and football operations, sent by Ferran Soriano, the chief executive who is expected to continue at the club for the next two years at least.
These have been the developments inside City over the past seven days, and what they mean for the future.
For obvious reasons, a lot of goings-on at City at the moment are being seen through the prism of the 115 charges of financial wrongdoing they face. Whether it is their other legal battle with the Premier League, related to Associated Party Transaction regulations, or the departure last month of a popular kit man, the go-to reason for many observers is “it must be related to the charges”.
The fairly straightforward and completely unrelated departure of Brandon Ashton, the famous kit man who did belly slides in the dressing room when City won trophies, was wrongly seen as an important staff member jumping ship. It is no wonder then that Begiristain’s departure, coupled with the Guardiola-England rumours, would have some imaginations running wild, either among those desperate for City to face serious sanction, or fans of the club worried about what the short-term future holds.
There have been changes at the top of City (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
A verdict is expected before the end of the year and while everybody in football is eagerly awaiting the outcome one way or the other, it has not been much of a factor at all in the events of the past few days, from Begiristain’s exit to Guardiola’s future, whatever he decides.
To give a brief idea of the approach within City since the charges landed in February last year, there have been no clauses inserted into new signings’ contracts related to, for example, any potential relegation as, or as a result of, their punishment. In most cases, the charges are not even brought up during negotiations, unless it is by an agent. If that is the case, they are told what the City squad was told on the day the charges dropped 18 months ago: that there is nothing to worry about and to get on with the job.
In terms of Begiristain’s decision, he has been looking to move aside for years. Much like Guardiola himself, Begiristain never expected to be at City for so long; he was appointed in 2013 to help set up the structures and bring in the players to help lure Guardiola to Manchester, and he achieved that, with trophies on top, six years ago.
Begiristain had originally planned to step aside soon after, but the Guardiola era was going so well that he stuck around.
The plan changed to him moving on at the age of 60, which happened this summer, and when City won the Champions League last June, he felt that everything he had been brought to City to do really had been accomplished. He and his wife, Mara Armendaritz, have been looking forward to moving back to Spain, splitting time between his native San Sebastian and Premia de Dalt, where he lived during his time with Barcelona. They have two grown-up children and are planning more time to relax, with some occasional football-related activities thrown in eventually.
So since City’s treble success, Begiristain has led the process of finding his successor; over the past six months, he has led the process of interviewing several candidates for the role.
Quique Carcel, the director of football at Spanish CFG club Girona, was another favourite but was keen to stay in his current role, leaving Viana, who signed his contract last week, as the best candidate. The 41-year-old Portuguese has already got to know Begiristain and, to some extent, the City structure during the interview process, and those who know him say he is similar to his predecessor in that he is happy to stay away from the limelight and do his work discreetly.
Viana will replace Begiristain (Gualter Fatia/Getty Images)
Viana’s arrival led to speculation that he would be keen to bring Amorim with him from Sporting Lisbon, where they have worked together since 2020. There are those who know the two of them in Portugal who are convinced Viana will want his former Portugal team-mate alongside him in Manchester and the club are open to the idea, but Bayer Leverkusen’s sought-after coach Alonso, who led them to the German double last season in his first full season in charge, is also of interest.
But the primary object is and always will be to get Guardiola to stay for as long as possible, and there have been indications over the past two or three days that might be what happens after all.
Whatever Guardiola decides, it is expected that he will reach a final decision in the coming weeks. If he were to continue at City, then that would be tidied up quickly, and earlier this week sources close to the club who, like all of those spoken to for this article have been kept anonymous to protect relationships, were suggesting that a one-year extension to make it a full decade at the Etihad Stadium is possible. In the event he does not sign a new deal, he would let the club know as soon as possible, allowing plenty of time to replace him.
The fact that he is considering staying should also dispel any notion his future is tied in any way to the outcome of the charges. In fact, sources who know Guardiola believe that if City were to be found guilty and severely punished, it would make it more likely he would sign an extension. This would partly be out of defiance and partly not leaving a club he has come to love in a difficult spot.
In that sense, it could be surmised that City are cautious of a guilty verdict after all and that Guardiola is thinking about staying as a result, but in reality it is not a major part of his thought process. More important to Guardiola are factors such as the hunger of his players and the desire of those above him in the hierarchy to match his own insatiable desire to continue to improve.
It certainly appeared the England opportunity might have come around at the right time; Guardiola has said that one of his remaining managerial ambitions is to take charge of a country at a major tournament, but he has also appeared to narrow down his options by saying that some of the top sides in that area of the game, such as Brazil, Argentina and Italy, should continue to be managed by nationals.
That does not appear to be an option for now, though, with City continuing to plan for a successful future both on the football and business side of things.
Vieira and Arteta were seen as possible Guardiola successors (Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)
It is no surprise that Begiristain has put so much effort into finding his successor, as that is how he views his task when it comes to building the City squad and finding Guardiola’s eventual replacement.
Some of City’s coaching hires over the years have been made so that those individuals could potentially be in a position to replace Guardiola. Patrick Vieira was brought into the group as under-23s coach in 2013 and was, at one time, considered a potential Guardiola successor, as was Mikel Arteta, who joined his fellow Spaniard’s staff in 2016.
Enzo Maresca was brought in to coach the under-23s in 2020 after being recommended to Begiristain by Manuel Pellegrini, the former City manager. Maresca had been on Pellegrini’s staff at West Ham and a source close to that appointment says Begiristain felt the Italian would one day join Guardiola’s first-team staff — which he did in 2022 — and possibly be an option to replace him after that.
In terms of the playing staff, Begiristain wants each position to have at least two players comfortable playing there, ideally with an age gap between them, so there is an inbuilt succession plan. For example, Kyle Walker passing the torch to Rico Lewis, or Kevin De Bruyne to Phil Foden.
In recent years, City’s signings have generally been young: Savinho is 20, Josko Gvardiol, Erling Haaland and Jeremy Doku were 21, Julian Alvarez was 22.
The intention to have succession plans woven into the squad essentially reflects how the club and wider group are run, on both football and business fronts. Over recent years, there has been a specific drive to have the business side at City perform as well as the first team. That has included cutting back on spending at essentially every level, restructuring the club by streamlining certain departments and hiring new staff that are considered to have both quality and adaptability. This means that replacements can step in at short notice, from short-term periods of sick leave to more unexpected permanent departures.
The best example of this in recent times is probably Omar Berrada going to Manchester United earlier this year as chief executive. No doubt it was a shock for City to lose such a highly regarded member of their operation, one who understood the club’s football and business needs, but they have not sought to replace his position as chief football operations officer since his departure was announced in January, and they never will.
They have structures for that kind of thing, with responsibilities shared among existing staff. One change includes Carlos Raphael Moersen, known as ‘Rafi’, becoming more prominent when it comes to negotiating contracts with current and prospective City players, a role that Berrada used to fulfil. Moersen is part of Brian Marwood’s ‘global football’ operation, which itself has seen changes this week, moves that are indicative of exactly how City like to put succession plans in place.
On Monday, a business update email was sent to staff in which it was conveyed that Riccardo Bigon will be taking greater responsibility within that global football setup.
Marwood, who runs CFG’s global football operation (Stu Forster/Getty Images)
Bigon has worked in that department for 18 months but will now take on greater responsibility. This includes the coordination of the methodology team — which is responsible for the uniformity of coaching and other practices across the 13 CFG clubs and all football directors within the group.
Those were roles performed by Marwood. While there was no specific mention in the email that Marwood could also depart in the near future, Bigon’s previous CFG experience and his new role highlight exactly how the group aims to make transitions as smooth as possible.
In recent months, there had been rumours that Soriano, the group’s CEO, was preparing to leave Manchester, too. According to that version of events, it was said that he would continue working for the group, just in a different country and with a different role. But the current thinking is that he will stay in situ for the foreseeable future.
For one thing, his wife Sandra (who runs Tast, the restaurant on Manchester’s King Street which Soriano, Guardiola and Begiristain all invest in) and their two daughters are settled in the city and not looking to up sticks.
The current thinking is that Roel de Vries, CFG chief operating officer since 2020, would be primed to step up, although there are no current plans. As the changing plans of Berrada, Arteta and Maresca have highlighted in the past few years, succession planning is not an exact science.
As part of this week’s restructuring, City also brought on board a new global football business director and a business development director.
The impact and implications of the Premier League charges would obviously weigh heavier on the business side compared to the football operation. While the latter has been assured the club will be fine and told to carry on as they are, those with financial and legal obligations are obviously much closer to the coal face.
But although there are still several weeks of the hearing left, and leaks from the process seemingly non-existent, the stance within City continues to be one of confidence.
The outcome of the charges could well become the biggest story of the Premier League season, if not its whole four-decade era. But when it comes to the futures of Begiristian, Viana and Guardiola, not to mention Berrada, Marwood and countless others, there are, believe it or not, other things to consider.
Additional reporting: David Ornstein
(Top photos: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)
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