WHY SAY ANYTHING?

Two managers with no history whatsoever of wanting to stay at a club for more than two or three years. In fact no history, as managers, of actually staying at a club for more than two or three years. Yet there has been a dramatic u-turn by the pair of them and they have now both stated that they want to stay where they are for “a long time“. Why?

Take, for example, Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman. These are two managers who you would expect to crave longevity. They have both previously managed Southampton with very similar records of relative success. This has been a springboard to bigger things with Pochettino moving to Tottenham and Koeman to Everton.

It would appear that they will both continue to be successful in their respective careers but, unfortunately for Spurs and Everton fans, this will not mean lengthy stays at either club. This is not to say that they are unhappy where they are but both have ambitions to manage at bigger clubs.

Ronald Koeman has already let it be known that he wants to coach Barcelona one day and Pochettino has expressed a wish to do the same at Real Madrid and/or PSG.

The ambition shown by these two managers goes a long way to explain the opposite ambitions of the two Manchester managers.

Pep Guardiola has already spent years at Barcelona before moving on to Bayern Munich and José Mourinho has managed Real Madrid and Inter Milan. They have experienced that which is still a dream for the Everton and Spurs managers.

For Mourinho and Guardiola there aren’t that many big clubs left and the pressures are the same or similar at most of them anyway, so why not stay as is?

They are coaching in the “best league in the world” according to many observers, and they are at the best two clubs in that league. Where could they now go that would be a step up? There are clubs of a similar size to City and United but they are not in the Premier League.

Despite having stated that they want a long stay at their clubs the reasons for doing so are different.

José Mourinho wants stability both for the club and, one suspects, for himself. He wants the club back to where they were under Sir Alex Ferguson which is challenging for titles and trophies every year.

He has expressed a wish to stay for 15 years, (as reported by the Guardian), but admits that the pressures on managers nowadays may make this impossible.

Pep Guardiola hasn’t put a limit on the time he wants to spend at the Etihad but has said that he thinks the “project” he has undertaken will take much more than three years to complete.

City’s comparative lack of history, particularly in Europe, means that building a club to challenge for the title EVERY season and the Champion’s League EVERY season cannot possibly happen in a couple of years.

What would elevate the club very quickly would be to win the Champion’s League a couple of times in the next three years, something which cannot be completely ruled out!

From the point of view of the clubs, they both think that they have the best manager in the world and so you have to wonder, if either were to make a change at some stage, who would they turn to?

So, at present, everything is rosy in the Etihad and Old Trafford gardens and, if it was up to the two managers, it would remain so for the foreseeable future.

(The latest from Stamford Bridge is that Antonio Conte has signed a two year contract. This, however, does not inspire the confidence to expect that he will actually stay for another two years!)