What Pep Guardiola told Stuart Pearce years after Man City trial

Stuart Pearce was Manchester City manager when Pep Guardiola came for a trial, and later got advice from the young coach

Pep Guardiola welcomed Stuart Pearce to Barcelona for a coaching masterclass a few years after being rejected by the manager at Manchester City following a trial. Guardiola considered City as an option towards the end of his playing career but it never looked like a natural match and the Blues opted not to sign a man who would go onto become their manager.

Pearce did not think much of it at the time but made more of a trip to visit Guardiola's Barcelona side when he was in charge of England Under-21s and the Spanish giants were making their reputation as one of the best sides in the history of football. While the unsuccessful trial wasn't top of the agenda, Guardiola was generous with his time as he brought Pearce and his colleagues in to watch training and then talked through ideas afterwards.

"I think maybe I should have given him my job as manager. I just remember a really nice fella – him and his agent were fantastic – but it just wasn’t the right time for us. Financially, we didn’t have a great deal of money to spend on wages," Pearce told the Manchester Evening News via Betway.

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"But I often look back and think I wish I’d have kept him on when you consider what he’s gone on to now. But certainly the way he conducted himself was fantastic. I was fortunate enough to watch him work on the grass during a club visit to Barcelona when I was working for England.

"He opened the doors at Barcelona for us, so I’ve got a lot of time and respect for him, not just as a professional but also as a man. We didn’t really talk about his trial, but we certainly watched his team train for a day and then watched the game against Valencia. I was impressed with [Carlos] Puyol in training for sure. He was fantastic and after training finished, we spoke with Pep, wished him all the best for the game.

"We had about a half hour talking tactics and picking his brains. He talked for a while and then said, 'Good luck, gentlemen'. He walked off and then he stopped, went about 15 yards, then turned around to come back to us. He said, 'Oh, I forgot to tell you the one thing that makes a great team'. We said, what’s that? And he said, Lionel Messi."

Peace was never able to call on Messi in his managerial career but he did infamously send on goalkeeper David James up front in the final stages of a City game. Needing to beat Middlesbrough on the final day of the 2006/07 season if they were going to make leapfrog their opponents into the final UEFA Cup qualifying spot, James was sent up front as the substitute goalkeeper replaced striker Jon Macken.

What followed was a 20 minutes that Pearce and James regret and led to Macken leaving the club after calling his manager a 'f****** p****', with the incident going down in City and Premier League folklore as one of the strangest moments in the competition. Despite that, Pearce still looks back on his time at City with warmth and pointed to the unsung role that Kevin Keegan had in bringing the club back to where it needed to be.

"It was a night before situation," he said. "We needed to win the game against Middlesbrough as a draw would be enough to see them into Europe – which is how it ended up. I just thought I need to do something that’s going to excite the fans or at least catch the opposition off guard.

"When I look back now, I didn’t totally think it through, the implications on the centre forward Jon Macken. That was poor management on my behalf. But I was so focused on trying to get a result for Manchester City and when we had the ball on the penalty spot on the 82nd minute with Robbie Fowler about to take it to put us 2-1 up, not suggesting that David James’ contribution as a centre forward helped, but I certainly thought it changed the dynamic of the pitch slightly.

"But you try these things. Sometimes you’ve got to think about the implications, but the bottom line is it was a moment in time that nearly came off.

"I was really fortunate that I came through on the coaching staff there. In my time coming up and just as I took over the job, I went into board meetings and spent a lot of time with Kevin Keegan.

"Kevin looked after me brilliantly as a role model for a young manager. I was in board meetings and used to sit with the CEO and go through the financial situation of the club. So I was acutely aware of what I was inheriting as a manager, and the financial implications there. But it was really good. Obviously, during that time, the club went into the City of Manchester Stadium, moving out of Maine Road.

"You’ve got to bear in mind, my last playing year was at Manchester City when we were promoted to the Premier League. But you’re seeing what you’re seeing now, probably because of, in some way, Kevin Keegan’s vision. Don’t ever get misled that Kevin didn’t play his part. This team were the bottom reaches of the Championship when Kevin took over. So he played a massive part in Manchester City’s evolution over the last 26 years.

"For me, what a wonderful opportunity it was to manage a brilliant club. The chairman took over, then Kevin left and asked me to take over the club for nine games. That subsequently lasted another two years until the ownership changed. I was at City for six years in total, so I always look back with fond memories."

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