One of the keys to become a long servant manager could be to find a good rotation among your assistants as you take on different impulse from different people.
One you have seen close to Pep this season is Juanma Lillo. He took charge of the team when Pep had his back operation earlier in the season. Lillo, 57, first moved to the Etihad Stadium in summer 2020, replacing Mikel Arteta as Guardiola’s assistant after guiding Qingdao Huanghai to promotion to the top-tier Chinese Super League. He left before City’s treble-winning campaign last season to take up a head coach role with Al‑Sadd in Qatar but came back to City this month.
The coaching staff do turn as assistants of Pep often will be approached. Mikel Arteta is of course one to mention, another is Enzo Maresca. The two former assistants of Pep are both managers in Premier League next season. Enzo Maresca promoted Leicester and Arteta are challenging for the title. Maresca moving to Leicester from his position as assistant to Pep last summer. Enzo Maresca had, as Juanma Lillo, returned to the club from a sacked position as manager, leaving Parma.
Looking back to where it all started for Pep at Man City, moving into the job at The Etihad in time to get his 2016/17 campaign in place. In his first season at Man City he had people like Xabier Mancisidor, Simon Bitcon, Lorenzo Buenaventura, Carles Planchart, Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain all part of the set up, all of them are still at Man City.
Txiki Begiristain and Ferran Soriano are two persons not to forget in this special set up at Man City, being at the club since 2012, as they are not the front figures, but still of great importance keeping a steady ship. Begiristain joined Manchester City on 28 October 2012 as Director of Football, a similar position held at Barcelona from 2003 to 2010. During his tenure at Man City, the team won the Premier League six times – and the treble in the 2022–23 season – and several of his compatriots were also brought in as well as former teammate Pep Guardiola as manager.
The set up at Man City is done in the most clever way, but still they had to wait until 2016 to get their special man to run the team affairs, but with the core group of people in charge having previously won with Roberto Mancini and Manuell Pellegrini as the head of football. Rumours are that Begiristain is set to step down soon, but no excact date is set.
So we will see how this transition will happen as owners of this football club knows how to keep a structure and plan in place to continue their journey as the giants of football.
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