Pep Guardiola says working in England has made him a better manager. Reuters
Pep Guardiola says working in England has made him a better manager. Reuters

Football

Pep Guardiola says Premier League has made him a better manager 'by far'

Former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager now in charge at Manchester City says heavy fixture congestion and a title challenge from five other contenders have improved him

The National

November 22, 2018

Pep Guardiola believes working in the Premier League has made him a better manager.

The Manchester City manager said that the competitive nature and sheer unpredictability of the Premier League has presented him with the biggest challenge of his career.

Guardiola is one of the most successful managers of all time. Prior to his move to Manchester, Guardiola collected three Liga titles and two Uefa Champions League trophies with Barcelona, before leading Bayern Munich to three consecutive Bundesliga crowns.

Guardiola initially failed to transfer that success to English football as City ended the 2016/17 campaign under the Catalan's first season in charge trophyless.

Guardiola said it felt like he needed to learn a whole new set of skills after arriving in England in 2016, forced to cope with heavy fixture congestion and a title challenge from five other contenders.

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"I am a better manager than I was in Germany, and I am a better manager now than I was in Barcelona by far, just for the fact of being there," he said at the Peers Annual Lecture at Liverpool University.

"Now, I feel being here I am a better manager too, because I learned to handle this incredible league in many circumstances.

"It is the toughest one, for the amount of games, for the weather and the referees saying: 'play [on], play [on], play [on]' and the competitors, there are many. It is the only country that five or six [teams] can win the Premier League."

Guardiola led City to the Premier League title in record-breaking fashion last season, finishing on 100 points and 106 goals in 38 matches.

City also lifted the League Cup and Community Shield this year to take Guardiola's tally to 24 major trophies, with the City manager admitting that transferring his skills to the international stage could one day come to fruition.

"Sooner or later, it will happen because every three days I would like to be involved, but a little bit more calm, play more golf," he added.

"If I have a chance and some international team wants to come 'knock knock'. We will see."

Guardiola was on Wednesday formally warned by the English Football Association on over comments he made about referee Anthony Taylor before this month's Manchester derby.

Guardiola went against FA rules by discussing the suitability of the appointment of the official, who is from a Manchester suburb, for the clash.

City won the match at the Etihad Stadium 3-1.

Table-toppers City return to Premier League action on Saturday following the two-week international break when they travel to 13th-placed West Ham United.

Dhadak

Director: Shashank Khaitan

Starring: Janhvi Kapoor, Ishaan Khattar, Ashutosh Rana

Stars: 3

THE BIO

Age: 33

Favourite quote: “If you’re going through hell, keep going” Winston Churchill

Favourite breed of dog: All of them. I can’t possibly pick a favourite.

Favourite place in the UAE: The Stray Dogs Centre in Umm Al Quwain. It sounds predictable, but it honestly is my favourite place to spend time. Surrounded by hundreds of dogs that love you - what could possibly be better than that?

Favourite colour: All the colours that dogs come in

The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple. 
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950

Skewed figures

In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.