Pep Guardiola meets Neil Warnock for an in-depth conversation about football

Pep Guardiola meets Neil Warnock for an in-depth conversation about football, management and the Premier League.

Two football minds from vastly different worlds sitting down to hash out their philosophies all done and filmed by Sky Sports.

Pep Guardiola, the tactical genius behind Barcelona’s tiki-taka revolution and Manchester City’s dominance, meeting Neil Warnock, the grizzled veteran of English football’s lower leagues, known for his no-nonsense approach and promotion heroics. Let’s imagine how this might unfold.

The duo you never knew you needed…

Pep Guardiola meets Neil Warnock 🤣🤝 pic.twitter.com/1qNy94bRWI

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) February 22, 2025

“He is a legend in this country”

Pep Guardiola loves Neil Warnock ❤️ pic.twitter.com/48tDwOaOni

— Sky Sports (@SkySports) February 21, 2025

Neil: I’ve always said now you for me and I’m not just blowing your trumpet, you’re the best manager in my era and that’s completely in my opinion that’s only and that is because everybody thinks oh he’s doing well at Barcelona, he’s doing well at Bayern Munich, he’s doing well because he’s had all the money it isn’t as simple as that and and and I look at what you’ve done with certain players and how you’ve put them together and I’m really looking forward I know you might not be but I’m looking forward to the next 12/18 months. I know it’s a hard, it’s going to be a battle for you but they say about…

Pep: Would be, would be

Neil: They say about you’re struggling this year, you’re fourth in the league

Pep: Yeah but we struggle so our standards have been so so high in the you know in the past and the people are thinking but we struggle a lot but it’s happened, so I don’t you know you fight in the moment but I think deep inside I think if we realise what happened that season to avoid it for the next decade I think is a good lesson for our organisation looks like external internal it’s easy ‘Pep we find a solution and we are magnificent’, no, we are human beings the teams with teams can win and can lose we have done but sometimes the people say ‘oh what happened Pep what happened this season’ and I said no what happened, that is extraordinary, you know what happened now in season we had a lot of problems, we won a lot maybe we were not hungry as before the amount of injuries and many many things happen it’s normal, take it like a…

Neil: You don’t beat yourself up, you don’t, you might do when you’re at home or when you’re away from the ground but you don’t choke throw your lads under a bus no never do you you you know and and you must everybody must be tempted at times and I’ve never done that either and…

Pep: Listen and you know that sometimes you are I admire you some or people you have the sense of humour the British sense of humour that I’m sorry as a Catalan person I don’t have but I don’t the only thing I fight every single day since I start as a manager until now after 60s 70s, I don’t want to lose my player I lose my player, I lose my player because I don’t select him to play in the start 11 or put in the bench, I lose it that is understand the players you were football player, I was a football player, don’t play the people understand, but put it under the buzz in the media again because always I thought when the managers do that is was clean his ass that’s what I think for take responsibility, no responsibility to like they know the world is going to blame you because in Madrid I’m the highlight that people destroy me to avoid that is blame to my players, me never was going to happen

Neil: You know when I’ve had eight promotions in that respect and when I look at my teams, my teams were never the best team but they were probably the best dressing room and when we’ve overcome hurdles…

Pep: Do you know how important it is…

Neil: You’re proud aren’t you when you look around the dressing room you must be the same with the your lad’s last few years when you look around that dressing room you think wow I want to go in

Pep: No I’m not that type of manager like you are, no I would have loved to be guide for the manager but today all the new generation I’m sorry to tell you so comparing you and me is a new generation is is more about tactics about you know white angle singles and before but you grew up without wide angles without Sports Science and people giving that it’s more skin, it’s more eye contact, it’s more going to the dinner say the more stupid thing and laugh and create this vibe that is not about training not about the 442 or 433 or this kind of stuff that today is a modern football happen, and I’m not like that I’m not that because I grew up in a generation and I would love to have that sense to the players like and see as a father or can see me like this, you know this hacks or this that when you shout them it’s because even laugh when you shout and now and right now at with me it’s completely different I’m sorry I would love to be most of the time

Neil: Like well you know like when I look at managers over all divisions I still think successful ones are you can have all the coaching and all the systems you know and all this lot I still feel me that the successful ones are the best man managers I still think man management is the main ingredient that you need to be successful cuz in my squads I needed my players to go through a brick wall for me you know they had to they had to you know and that’s how my players are whereas yours are slightly different because of the ability that they’ve got so

Pep: But both I think both teams your teams our teams they run as you said before, they don’t run I’m in a problem of course I was lucky than you because I had Messi yeah you didn’t have, I have an exceptional players then break the wall it was easier for me, NOT for you at the end is that if you don’t have that if you don’t have that…

Neil: And you had the first three you had Messi the did you have him for the first three years

Pep: Yeah when just arrived

Neil: Yeah I’m just talking now about man marking, cuz when I got promotion with Notts County, we got from the third division to the second which was the first division now the Premier League now and we played Man Utd one of the first games

Pep: With sir Alex?

Neil: With Notts County, Nottingham and I had

Pep: Against United?

Neil: Yeah I had a right back Chris Short, was best marker and I put him on Ryan Giggs, he couldn’t get a kick and he I remember after about half an hour running across to the bench, can you get him off my back right, we were winning 1-0 and they got a Dickie penalty which you all get Dickie penalties you lot don’t you Manchester top sides and it was so funny but I’ve always done that because the quality Strikers that we come up against if we let them have freedom they just kill us

Pep: They kill us that’s right so we are you know no today love the man marking is so uncomfortable and and in Italy like Gasperini with Atalanta and there are many many teams right now it’s coming back there you there and follow and go go it’s so uncomfortable so because you say when you have zonal marking yeah to have the players in between and and this kind of stuff

Neil: Some of them are quite comfortable going into midfield aren’t they, last year with Stones John my old Barnsley lad, he was comfortable wasn’t he going into Midfield and playing from there, I loved we love man marking honestly, we love man mark because if we didn’t man mark, teams would just more quality so we had to find a way and that’s what that’s what we did

Pep: And the players support?

Neil: Yeah

Pep: They like it?

Neil: Yeah yeah well they acted him other ways other ways when I look at the Quality that you’ve got and the disappointment that you’ve got now I’m like I said I’m looking forward to the next 12/18 months now where where you’re going to show people that what I’m going to bring him and I’m going to I know you need a change it’s hard isn’t it when when the lads have been with you so many years even the individual even like you know one or two or three a lot and then they come to see Kyle Walker as my you know as my young lad I know and you know he’s at to go and and I think you’ve helped him by you know by letting him go there and whatever you and it might be detrimental at times to what you want to do, but you do get attached to certain players don’t you, are you looking forward to the next 12 months and the challenge are are you are you frightening it

Pep: Right now I’m not able to think about it of course the club think about it we talk about them for this three months left to qualify for champions in season is a main thing, it’s like a Premier League in the situation that we had that season so for many reasons and after we will see I’m not, but always have been this time was a different but extend the contract one more year I want to I want to have long control I want to be honest so with my job with a club that adore and I love right now with the players, it’s so difficult after 9 years sometimes taking decisions with the players that gave you everything and beyond because it’s important but you know you said managing so the affections are there so you are attached, you are feeling, so we live good except moment bad moments, how you have a relation without and after that and it’s every season has been tougher and tougher and tougher but they gave me everything people say oh Pep how good no no players gave us to us you know to have a job and give us some ideas you have deliver

Neil: The outside world. They don’t understand the ins and outs what you go through you know like in a morning they just think you you go out and you plan this and you plan that and then somebody knocks on your door and um somebody’s wife’s not very well and one of the kids was in hospital one of so abut you’re almost like a, you’d have to do everything

Pep: Absolutely absolutely

Neil: I don’t think people realise this

Pep: But I think before you it was your assistant coach anything else to there are 20 people the players care department you know with this a problem sometimes that happen, have birth oh I realised when I have four month old so because today is that you know the structure is bigger but the reality is that so they are human beings

Neil: You still take you still take two coach two coaches away from home yeah I was telling somebody when I was at Crystal Palace I can’t remember who he was now I don’t think it was you and I remember the two coaches pulling up and the lad said to me what you want to I said chick a bucket of cold water on their dressing room floor so what do you mean well oh no it’s was Jose it was Jose, chuck a bucket of cold water on the floor and then can you imagine all the staff coming and looking at the floor and that and then I took him he come in my little office at Crystal Palace, Jose put a cup of tea never said anything about never said now you say I said cuz I said to the boy can you imagine all them multi-millionaires they’ll have the feet wet now they’ll be moaning

Pep: In a winter time in Selhurst Park oh my God I know

Neil: So them were good times but any just going back to just going back to current times and Liverpool on on Sunday, I don’t suppose you go about it any different do you just have the same you know with your people that’s looked at the opponents and things like what you’ve seen and things like that you just treat it as another game

Pep: Well but we face a tough opponent but right now the situation uh I’m thinking more how emotionally we can give to the players between talking each other and maybe tactic right now you know we are a little bit unstable coming for a tough game in Madrid so of course the tactics will be involved because we have grew up our way we conduct the team in that way but right now is always you’re thinking in that period this is especially what we can do you know to talk not the one side so go backwards for the players to me to the players so what can you deliver to arrive at less as much as possible you know in a good

Neil: From the outside and it’s easier said than done but for me you just got to eliminate the silly mistakes is it I mean all the work you did at Madrid

Pep: It’s not Madrid, have been all season, in Arsenal, when we start all season be like that they said why yeah we said guys we cannot do it again we cannot we do it again that’s why we have reduced we’ll be incredible better better position if we give away the chance they have

Neil: But you beat anybody can’t you, you can beat anybody and I look at you know the Newcastle game and I watched Liverpool with Wolves and everybody thought they were going to get 10, you know but no Wolves should have got a you know could have got a result at the end

Pep: I don’t know your period Neil but the Premier League since I arrived nine years ago to now it changed massively, the level of the teams before, I don’t know it was maybe I don’t know everyone could beat everyone but maybe one or two team the three teams was contender to in the Premier Leagues right now there are a lot and the middle class teams…

Neil: Bournemouth, Brighton

Pep: My God. No they are exceptional yeah no to be honest they are exceptional and the managers and the players and the recruitment and everything today the teams have made the level I say Wolves

Neil: And they’re nearly relegated aren’t they

Pep: All the season have been like that and you play against them and said and this player and this player and the way they play they can play with us so all the teams, it is tougher so that’s why no one is going to 100 points done and four in a row in the Premier League going

Neil: It won’t be done again no well not in my lifetime anyhow in my life

Pep: I’m sorry I know I’m much much younger than you but it’s not even

Neil: Well you are but I mean you know I’ve got plenty I’ve got plenty hair