Manchester City

Manuel Pellegrini reveals biggest mistake that he made at Manchester City

By Darren Plant, Senior Reporter | 06 March 2018

Manuel Pellegrini says that his biggest mistake during his time at Manchester City was indicating that he intends to leave the club after his third campaign.

Manuel Pellegrini has claimed that he made a mistake in revealing his intention to indicate that he planned to leave Manchester City after his third season.

During his period at the Etihad Stadium between 2013 and 2016, Pellegrini won the Premier League and two EFL Cups, but the closing months of his reign at the club were overshadowed by the news that Pep Guardiola would replace him in the dugout.

Pellegrini has suggested that his plans became public knowledge too soon, and it contributed to City only finishing in fourth place during the 2015-16 campaign.

The Chilean told the Coaches Voice: "I did make one mistake in my time at City. As much as you don't want it to be this way, the group has a tendency to relax. To start thinking about the next step.

"I said I would end my contract after three years. After that, I said we would see. Not just for me and my career, but because of Ferran [Soriano] and Txiki [Begiristain]'s plans to carry on their strategy with Pep Guardiola, who they had worked with at Barcelona for a long time.

"There is a lot of trust between those two and myself, so I was always kept in the loop about the plans to try and bring Guardiola to the club. I knew that if he hadn't wanted to come to City for any reason, they weren't going to interview for a manager. They would come straight to me.

"But I learned something from the experience in my final season. It's the same in the case of Sir Alex Ferguson. With all the experience and influence he had at Manchester United, he made his first retirement announcement several months early. I think he always described it as a mistake in his career. I also describe mine as a mistake."

In total, Pellegrini won 100 of his 167 matches in charge of the Premier League side.