Looks like even Pep knows City are a small club after all
Pep Guardiola: Barcelona & Bayern Munich 'would have sacked' Man City boss
Pep Guardiola: Barcelona & Bayern Munich 'would have sacked' Man City boss
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I think the blokes a cunt and have done since day one , thought he was overrated as a player and is the most overrated manager in history , the mask doesn't slip with that prick either it falls off completely , I think Jose Guardiola will be fully exposed as the fraud he truly is in the next 12 months.
He comes across as extremely arrogant, a trait that always gets my back up, but one I find personally motivating to insure those that are have their words and actions rammed back at them. Unfortunately, in my capacity as sofa manager there is fuck all I can do personally other than root for my man Poch who displays all the traits I identify with.
Guardiola is a very, very good manger. He will have Citeh purring next year, as his side showed towards the back end of the season (the first 10 games of the season was pure press cock sucking and nothing special, as any manager with that squad (even Bob Bradley) would have expected to win the games they played as all were the worst 10 in the league, wasn't impressed how they played those games too).
Yes, there will always be an argument levelled at him about buying the best players rather than coaching those at his immediate disposal and it's a valid one too, but even our Poch binned off a number of ours and went about replacing them. It's not just about buying players but creating an environment and mentality and many times that may enable the new Manger initiating that by dropping the so called undroppable to shocking the players into a new regime. Poch dropped all our Captain's and handed the trust to our young guns. Guardiola binned off Hart and has done the same as Poch in his first year by getting rid of Zabeletta and the old boys et al. You could also see big improvements in Sterling, Silva (yes he is a brilliant player but I don't think he had been playing well for 1.5 seasons), Sane, Auguero and De Bruyne all much improved from the first half of the season.
I like Guardiola's comments he made when defending Stones last year, by saying in a press conference that he had more balls than anyone sitting in the room (pointing to the press pack), imagine how that would have made Stones feel, 10ft tall I should imagine. Guardiola also gets his teams to play football, unlike Maureen who spends £500m to sit in a low defensive block, I simply can't get behind that and if he were managing us playing like that, I'd want a refund on my ticket.
I think the two best coaches in the League are Poch and Guardiola and because of his nature and style I'm delighted we have Poch and not Guardiola. Guardiola spent a few months locked away under the tutelage of Bielsa, he became a disciple. If Bielsa is the God of football, then Poch is Jesus, who's whole football career has been moulded and influenced by him, no need for Poch to spend summer camp to learn his ways. Poch has Guariola's number (I think Pep also knows this).
Guardiola is a very, very good manger. He will have Citeh purring next year, as his side showed towards the back end of the season (the first 10 games of the season was pure press cock sucking and nothing special, as any manager with that squad (even Bob Bradley) would have expected to win the games they played as all were the worst 10 in the league, wasn't impressed how they played those games too).
Yes, there will always be an argument levelled at him about buying the best players rather than coaching those at his immediate disposal and it's a valid one too, but even our Poch binned off a number of ours and went about replacing them. It's not just about buying players but creating an environment and mentality and many times that may enable the new Manger initiating that by dropping the so called undroppable to shocking the players into a new regime. Poch dropped all our Captain's and handed the trust to our young guns. Guardiola binned off Hart and has done the same as Poch in his first year by getting rid of Zabeletta and the old boys et al. You could also see big improvements in Sterling, Silva (yes he is a brilliant player but I don't think he had been playing well for 1.5 seasons), Sane, Auguero and De Bruyne all much improved from the first half of the season.
I like Guardiola's comments he made when defending Stones last year, by saying in a press conference that he had more balls than anyone sitting in the room (pointing to the press pack), imagine how that would have made Stones feel, 10ft tall I should imagine. Guardiola also gets his teams to play football, unlike Maureen who spends £500m to sit in a low defensive block, I simply can't get behind that and if he were managing us playing like that, I'd want a refund on my ticket.
I think the two best coaches in the League are Poch and Guardiola and because of his nature and style I'm delighted we have Poch and not Guardiola. Guardiola spent a few months locked away under the tutelage of Bielsa, he became a disciple. If Bielsa is the God of football, then Poch is Jesus, who's whole football career has been moulded and influenced by him, no need for Poch to spend summer camp to learn his ways. Poch has Guariola's number (I think Pep also knows this).
....... and he's a cunt
Shit.
Another 50 mil.
Sheikh!!!!!!
This type of stuff is such complete and utter wank. Because a tiny bit of film exists showing him coaching a player why the fuck does it make him different to any other coach. That clip could have been my old school football coach teaching me at the age of 8yrs to do one of the basic football moves in football, receive the ball on the half turn, lay it off and spin around your marker.
No doubt the fella is a top coach, impossible to state otherwise. Where there is plenty of debate is he has only managed the best players in the World. He could only get City to 3rd last year, 8 points behind us despite the players and resources available to him. Could he do what Dyche is doing at Burnley etc....
REVEALED: What Pep Guardiola REALLY said to Nathan Redmond as the Southampton star insists the rant was 'all complimentary and positive'
PUBLISHED: 22:31, 30 November 2017 | UPDATED: 10:08, 1 December 2017
Nathan Redmond was left stunned by the Pep Guardiola lecture that marked the end of Manchester City's dramatic 2-1 victory over Southampton on Wednesday night, Sportsmail can reveal.
Still reeling from Raheem Sterling's late winner, the Saints winger was suddenly on the receiving end of an astonishing rant from City's manager as the pair walked off the Etihad pitch.
Guardiola prodded Redmond several times, tapped the 23-year-old's chest and told him in animated terms how much he admired him and what he needed to improve on.
+5
Pep Guardiola confronted Nathan Redmond as the Southampton winger left the pitch
A source close to the England player told Sportsmail: 'Pep said, "You're a good player, you destroyed us last season and I've been watching you ever since. But you need to play with more confidence, with your head up. You need to believe in yourself".'
Redmond took to social media on Thursday night to expand on what Guardiola had said. 'Yes he was very passionate, intense and aggressive but he was only very complimentary and positive to me,' he said.
'He commented on my qualities as a young English player and how he wanted me to attack his team more during the game in a similar way to last season.
+5
Guardiola told Redmond he wanted him to attack Manchester City like he did last season
+5
Guardiola was seen remonstrating with Redmond after City's dramatic win over Southampton
+5
The City boss even grabbed Redmond around the neck at one point as he walked off the field
'I told him I was doing what my manager had asked. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less.
'Nothing negative or offensive was said towards me from Pep. Losing the game the way we did after working so hard for 90 minutes was very disappointing, but when one of the world's best managers compliments you or gives advice in any way, you listen.'
After the match, Redmond returned to the Southampton dressing room to relay what had happened to team-mate Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, who was at Bayern Munich when Guardiola was there. Hojbjerg told Redmond such behaviour was not unusual and, if Guardiola liked a player, it did not matter whether they played for his side.
Speaking after the match, Guardiola said he told Redmond 'how good a player he is'.
+5
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg told team-mate Redmond that Guardiola's behaviour was not unusual
He added: 'Southampton have some super-talented players. Redmond is so good one against one. But they didn't want to play, they were time-wasting from the ninth minute. I just wanted them to play.'
Guardiola expects to find out on Friday if he faces FA action over the confrontation.
The governing body charged Chelsea manager Antonio Conte on Thursday night after he was sent to the stands in the 1-0 victory over Swansea on Wednesday.
The Italian was dismissed by referee Neil Swarbrick for protesting to fourth official Lee Mason when Swansea were awarded a goal-kick.
He apologised to Swarbrick and Mason after the match and admitted he had made a 'mistake'. Conte has until 6pm on Tuesday to respond to the charge. He faces an £8,000 fine, but not a touchline ban.
REDMOND'S STATEMENT IN FULL
I've just seen this story and felt I had to say something and clear a few things that are floating around right now.
I want to make it absolutely clear that the Man City manager, Pep Guardiola did not say what The Sun is falsely claiming in this story.
Yes he was very passionate, intense and aggressive but he was only very complimentary and positive to me.
He commented on my qualities as a young English player and how he wanted me to attack his team more during the game in a similar way to last season. I told him I was doing what my manager had asked me to do in the game.
That's it. Nothing more, nothing less. Nothing negative or offensive was said towards me from Pep and that's what makes him one of the best managers in world football.
- Pep Guardiola was involved in a bizarre confrontation with Nathan Redmond
- Guardiola was telling Southampton's Redmond to play with more confidence
- Redmond took to social media to insist Guardiola's words were 'complimentary'
- Guardiola expects to find out on Friday if he faces action over the confrontation
PUBLISHED: 22:31, 30 November 2017 | UPDATED: 10:08, 1 December 2017
Nathan Redmond was left stunned by the Pep Guardiola lecture that marked the end of Manchester City's dramatic 2-1 victory over Southampton on Wednesday night, Sportsmail can reveal.
Still reeling from Raheem Sterling's late winner, the Saints winger was suddenly on the receiving end of an astonishing rant from City's manager as the pair walked off the Etihad pitch.
Guardiola prodded Redmond several times, tapped the 23-year-old's chest and told him in animated terms how much he admired him and what he needed to improve on.
+5
Pep Guardiola confronted Nathan Redmond as the Southampton winger left the pitch
A source close to the England player told Sportsmail: 'Pep said, "You're a good player, you destroyed us last season and I've been watching you ever since. But you need to play with more confidence, with your head up. You need to believe in yourself".'
Redmond took to social media on Thursday night to expand on what Guardiola had said. 'Yes he was very passionate, intense and aggressive but he was only very complimentary and positive to me,' he said.
'He commented on my qualities as a young English player and how he wanted me to attack his team more during the game in a similar way to last season.
+5
Guardiola told Redmond he wanted him to attack Manchester City like he did last season
+5
Guardiola was seen remonstrating with Redmond after City's dramatic win over Southampton
+5
The City boss even grabbed Redmond around the neck at one point as he walked off the field
'I told him I was doing what my manager had asked. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less.
'Nothing negative or offensive was said towards me from Pep. Losing the game the way we did after working so hard for 90 minutes was very disappointing, but when one of the world's best managers compliments you or gives advice in any way, you listen.'
After the match, Redmond returned to the Southampton dressing room to relay what had happened to team-mate Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, who was at Bayern Munich when Guardiola was there. Hojbjerg told Redmond such behaviour was not unusual and, if Guardiola liked a player, it did not matter whether they played for his side.
Speaking after the match, Guardiola said he told Redmond 'how good a player he is'.
+5
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg told team-mate Redmond that Guardiola's behaviour was not unusual
He added: 'Southampton have some super-talented players. Redmond is so good one against one. But they didn't want to play, they were time-wasting from the ninth minute. I just wanted them to play.'
Guardiola expects to find out on Friday if he faces FA action over the confrontation.
The governing body charged Chelsea manager Antonio Conte on Thursday night after he was sent to the stands in the 1-0 victory over Swansea on Wednesday.
The Italian was dismissed by referee Neil Swarbrick for protesting to fourth official Lee Mason when Swansea were awarded a goal-kick.
He apologised to Swarbrick and Mason after the match and admitted he had made a 'mistake'. Conte has until 6pm on Tuesday to respond to the charge. He faces an £8,000 fine, but not a touchline ban.
REDMOND'S STATEMENT IN FULL
I've just seen this story and felt I had to say something and clear a few things that are floating around right now.
I want to make it absolutely clear that the Man City manager, Pep Guardiola did not say what The Sun is falsely claiming in this story.
Yes he was very passionate, intense and aggressive but he was only very complimentary and positive to me.
He commented on my qualities as a young English player and how he wanted me to attack his team more during the game in a similar way to last season. I told him I was doing what my manager had asked me to do in the game.
That's it. Nothing more, nothing less. Nothing negative or offensive was said towards me from Pep and that's what makes him one of the best managers in world football.
A little bit too much is being made of this but when you read Redman's response he licks Pep's arse whilst "potentially" making his own manager look a right dick. I feel Redman's best response would have been to denounce the Sun's article and just leave it right there. But what he has done is acknowledge Pep (a rival manager of a rival club) as the "best" manager in the World, he makes no such claim or makes no zero positive comments to his own boss. In fact he alludes, without saying it" that his own manger doesn't let him play with the expression and freedom that Pep says he should.REVEALED: What Pep Guardiola REALLY said to Nathan Redmond as the Southampton star insists the rant was 'all complimentary and positive'
By Matt Lawton for the Daily Mail
- Pep Guardiola was involved in a bizarre confrontation with Nathan Redmond
- Guardiola was telling Southampton's Redmond to play with more confidence
- Redmond took to social media to insist Guardiola's words were 'complimentary'
- Guardiola expects to find out on Friday if he faces action over the confrontation
PUBLISHED: 22:31, 30 November 2017 | UPDATED: 10:08, 1 December 2017
Nathan Redmond was left stunned by the Pep Guardiola lecture that marked the end of Manchester City's dramatic 2-1 victory over Southampton on Wednesday night, Sportsmail can reveal.
Still reeling from Raheem Sterling's late winner, the Saints winger was suddenly on the receiving end of an astonishing rant from City's manager as the pair walked off the Etihad pitch.
Guardiola prodded Redmond several times, tapped the 23-year-old's chest and told him in animated terms how much he admired him and what he needed to improve on.
+5
Pep Guardiola confronted Nathan Redmond as the Southampton winger left the pitch
A source close to the England player told Sportsmail: 'Pep said, "You're a good player, you destroyed us last season and I've been watching you ever since. But you need to play with more confidence, with your head up. You need to believe in yourself".'
Redmond took to social media on Thursday night to expand on what Guardiola had said. 'Yes he was very passionate, intense and aggressive but he was only very complimentary and positive to me,' he said.
'He commented on my qualities as a young English player and how he wanted me to attack his team more during the game in a similar way to last season.
+5
Guardiola told Redmond he wanted him to attack Manchester City like he did last season
+5
Guardiola was seen remonstrating with Redmond after City's dramatic win over Southampton
+5
The City boss even grabbed Redmond around the neck at one point as he walked off the field
'I told him I was doing what my manager had asked. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less.
'Nothing negative or offensive was said towards me from Pep. Losing the game the way we did after working so hard for 90 minutes was very disappointing, but when one of the world's best managers compliments you or gives advice in any way, you listen.'
After the match, Redmond returned to the Southampton dressing room to relay what had happened to team-mate Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, who was at Bayern Munich when Guardiola was there. Hojbjerg told Redmond such behaviour was not unusual and, if Guardiola liked a player, it did not matter whether they played for his side.
Speaking after the match, Guardiola said he told Redmond 'how good a player he is'.
+5
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg told team-mate Redmond that Guardiola's behaviour was not unusual
He added: 'Southampton have some super-talented players. Redmond is so good one against one. But they didn't want to play, they were time-wasting from the ninth minute. I just wanted them to play.'
Guardiola expects to find out on Friday if he faces FA action over the confrontation.
The governing body charged Chelsea manager Antonio Conte on Thursday night after he was sent to the stands in the 1-0 victory over Swansea on Wednesday.
The Italian was dismissed by referee Neil Swarbrick for protesting to fourth official Lee Mason when Swansea were awarded a goal-kick.
He apologised to Swarbrick and Mason after the match and admitted he had made a 'mistake'. Conte has until 6pm on Tuesday to respond to the charge. He faces an £8,000 fine, but not a touchline ban.
REDMOND'S STATEMENT IN FULL
I've just seen this story and felt I had to say something and clear a few things that are floating around right now.
I want to make it absolutely clear that the Man City manager, Pep Guardiola did not say what The Sun is falsely claiming in this story.
Yes he was very passionate, intense and aggressive but he was only very complimentary and positive to me.
He commented on my qualities as a young English player and how he wanted me to attack his team more during the game in a similar way to last season. I told him I was doing what my manager had asked me to do in the game.
That's it. Nothing more, nothing less. Nothing negative or offensive was said towards me from Pep and that's what makes him one of the best managers in world football.
Final point, what fucking right has Guano have to tell Redman how he should play? Imaging if he did this at the end of a game against us, screaming in the face of say Kane or Dele, how he thinks they should be playing.
REVEALED: What Pep Guardiola REALLY said to Nathan Redmond as the Southampton star insists the rant was 'all complimentary and positive'
By Matt Lawton for the Daily Mail
- Pep Guardiola was involved in a bizarre confrontation with Nathan Redmond
- Guardiola was telling Southampton's Redmond to play with more confidence
- Redmond took to social media to insist Guardiola's words were 'complimentary'
- Guardiola expects to find out on Friday if he faces action over the confrontation
PUBLISHED: 22:31, 30 November 2017 | UPDATED: 10:08, 1 December 2017
Nathan Redmond was left stunned by the Pep Guardiola lecture that marked the end of Manchester City's dramatic 2-1 victory over Southampton on Wednesday night, Sportsmail can reveal.
Still reeling from Raheem Sterling's late winner, the Saints winger was suddenly on the receiving end of an astonishing rant from City's manager as the pair walked off the Etihad pitch.
Guardiola prodded Redmond several times, tapped the 23-year-old's chest and told him in animated terms how much he admired him and what he needed to improve on.
+5
Pep Guardiola confronted Nathan Redmond as the Southampton winger left the pitch
A source close to the England player told Sportsmail: 'Pep said, "You're a good player, you destroyed us last season and I've been watching you ever since. But you need to play with more confidence, with your head up. You need to believe in yourself".'
Redmond took to social media on Thursday night to expand on what Guardiola had said. 'Yes he was very passionate, intense and aggressive but he was only very complimentary and positive to me,' he said.
'He commented on my qualities as a young English player and how he wanted me to attack his team more during the game in a similar way to last season.
+5
Guardiola told Redmond he wanted him to attack Manchester City like he did last season
+5
Guardiola was seen remonstrating with Redmond after City's dramatic win over Southampton
+5
The City boss even grabbed Redmond around the neck at one point as he walked off the field
'I told him I was doing what my manager had asked. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less.
'Nothing negative or offensive was said towards me from Pep. Losing the game the way we did after working so hard for 90 minutes was very disappointing, but when one of the world's best managers compliments you or gives advice in any way, you listen.'
After the match, Redmond returned to the Southampton dressing room to relay what had happened to team-mate Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, who was at Bayern Munich when Guardiola was there. Hojbjerg told Redmond such behaviour was not unusual and, if Guardiola liked a player, it did not matter whether they played for his side.
Speaking after the match, Guardiola said he told Redmond 'how good a player he is'.
+5
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg told team-mate Redmond that Guardiola's behaviour was not unusual
He added: 'Southampton have some super-talented players. Redmond is so good one against one. But they didn't want to play, they were time-wasting from the ninth minute. I just wanted them to play.'
Guardiola expects to find out on Friday if he faces FA action over the confrontation.
The governing body charged Chelsea manager Antonio Conte on Thursday night after he was sent to the stands in the 1-0 victory over Swansea on Wednesday.
The Italian was dismissed by referee Neil Swarbrick for protesting to fourth official Lee Mason when Swansea were awarded a goal-kick.
He apologised to Swarbrick and Mason after the match and admitted he had made a 'mistake'. Conte has until 6pm on Tuesday to respond to the charge. He faces an £8,000 fine, but not a touchline ban.
REDMOND'S STATEMENT IN FULL
I've just seen this story and felt I had to say something and clear a few things that are floating around right now.
I want to make it absolutely clear that the Man City manager, Pep Guardiola did not say what The Sun is falsely claiming in this story.
Yes he was very passionate, intense and aggressive but he was only very complimentary and positive to me.
He commented on my qualities as a young English player and how he wanted me to attack his team more during the game in a similar way to last season. I told him I was doing what my manager had asked me to do in the game.
That's it. Nothing more, nothing less. Nothing negative or offensive was said towards me from Pep and that's what makes him one of the best managers in world football.
Fuck off, Pep!
Who the fuck is he to step in and think nothing of underming Redmonds ACTUAL manager... Right under Pellegrino's nose??? ...Espcially as it was born out of self interest anyway!
Who the fuck does this wanker think he is???
Next level arrogance from, Cunty-ola.
Wishing you squad dabilitating injuries and dressing room mutiny ever second of your stay..... Prick!
Last edited:
Can't wait for every manager in the PL to now approach the City players after every game.
As I have exclusively eluded to before, the mad slaphead is this far from a full-gibbering and very public mental breakdown
He already has everything else stacked in his favour.............if he wants a league where everyone has the same budget and it just comes down to tactics, then that's fine.........but of course he wouldn't actually want a level playing field
Redmond: "NOTICE ME SENPAI"
I wasn't aware of this, until now:
Pep Guardiola, is the only coach in the PL (since the dismissal of Frank de Boer) to have tested positive as a player.
Sharapova, Guardiola, doping, darkness and light | Sporting Intelligence
Pep Guardiola’s two failed tests for nandrolone
In late November 2001, the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) announced that Pep Guardiola, then playing for Brescia Football Club (left), had twice tested positive for nandrolone. The timing was devastating. After a period out of the game this was only his second official match for the club.
Guardiola had provided urine samples after a league game in Piacenza on 21 October and on 4 November 2001 after a match against Lazio in Rome; both samples showed levels of the anabolic steroid nandrolone above the permitted legal limit of 2ng/ml. The steroid can improve an athlete’s ability to train harder, aid recovery by reducing fatigue and help the body build muscle by producing more protein. Its performance-enhancing properties are therefore applicable across almost all sports.
Nandrolone is detectable by testing for the presence of its metabolites 19-norandrosterone (NA) and 19-noretiocholanolone (NE). Guardiola’s urine sample from October showed the presence of 9ng/ml of 19-norandrosterone (NA) and 12ng/ml of 19-noretiocholanolone (NE), six times the legal limit, for the A sample. In the B sample 8ng/ml of NA were found; NE was not tested for. The A sample from the urine taken in November showed the presence of 5ng/ml of NA and 10ng/ml of NE. In the B sample, 6ng/ml of NA was found.
The disciplinary committee of the Lega Nazionale Professionisti (the Italian league) consequently fined Guardiola €50,000, suspended him from football for four months and required him to submit to random drug testing for the four months that followed the end of the suspension. La Commissione d’Appello Federale (CAF, or football’s federal court of justice) upheld the decision after an unsuccessful appeal from Guardiola and his representatives.
Guardiola was adamant that he had done no wrong and the two positive tests had to be some sort of mistake. “A machine says I have taken nandrolone, but I know I didn’t,” he said. “Before Piacenza I only took the multivitamins that Dr. Ramon Segura, my trusted physiologist, has prepared for me for six or seven years. They consist of only specific vitamins, as evidenced by the more than 60 doping tests that I have undertaken over the many years of my career, all came back negative. I am innocent and I’m going to prove it.”
.
The role of Guardiola’s personal doctor
As Guardiola mentioned, his personal doctor at the time was Dr. Ramon Segura. Dr. Segura was also physician to another player who tested positive for nandrolone just seven months before Guardiola. FC Barcelona defender Frank de Boer failed a test for nandrolone after a UEFA cup match against Celta Vigo. He produced a result of 8.6ng/ml, again well over the limit of 2ng/ml.
In the initial disciplinary proceedings conducted by the CONI in December 2001, Dr. Segura argued that the supplements he had given Guardiola were contaminated and were the cause of the positive test.
The lead prosecutor Giacomo Aiello listened to more than three hours of testimony from Dr. Segura. Dr. Segura provided the list of supplements Guardiola’s defence had had analysed in a lab in Cologne in an attempt to argue that they had been contaminated with nandrolone. However Aiello stated that the results came back “negative” and specifically that no nandrolone metabolites were found in the substances. These supplements could not have been the source of the positive test.
It became clear that despite claiming contamination, Dr. Segura could not even be sure of the contents of these supplements. It was discovered during Guardiola’s unsuccessful appeal that Dr. Segura’s behaviour in preparing Guardiola’s supplements was deemed “risky”. These supplements were prepared with “raw materials purchased from different suppliers according to market availability”, without suitable “certification of manufacturers”.
This assumedly would have caused great concern to Pep Guardiola given his trust in the doctor whose supplements he had been taking for many years. Their relationship remained strong however. Dr. Segura returned to FC Barcelona in 2009, the same season Guardiola became club manager. Guardiola took a keen interest in the substances his former physician provided to his players. “Guardiola took this program of daily supplementation very seriously and insisted to the players on the need for it and made sure they followed it,” Dr. Segura explained.
(The anguish for the two did not stop after leaving the commune of Brescia. They would face another doping scandal soon after their reunion. In 2010 UEFA fined Barcelona €30,000 for failing to provide accurate details of their players’ whereabouts. When anti-doping officials arrived to take samples, the players were not present to be tested. Barcelona blamed a system failure for their inability to notify authorities of a change in their training schedule.)
Dr. Segura’s testimony as part of Guardiola’s defence in 2001 did not suffice. The appeal committee ruled that Guardiola’s punishment should be upheld and that:
Criminal proceedings and a new line of defence
The damage to Guardiola’s reputation continued – he faced criminal proceedings. Judge Matteo Mantovani of the Court of Brescia / Tribunale di Brescia dealt Guardiola a seven-month suspended prison sentence, a €9,000 fine and required him to pay the prosecution’s legal fees. This was the first criminal conviction for doping in Italy after the special law 376 came into force in 2000, legislating doping as a criminal offence.
Guardiola’s defence in criminal court differed to his civil case. Dr. Jordi Segura, not Dr. Ramon Segura, testified on Guardiola’s behalf. He attempted to demonstrate endocrinologically, yet unsuccessfully, that Guardiola suffered from Gilbert syndrome and this caused the endogenous production of nandrolone.
Gilbert syndrome is a genetic condition. People with Gilbert syndrome have mildly elevated levels of bilirubin which can sometimes give rise to jaundice (yellowing of the whites of the eyes and sometimes the skin). The condition is largely harmless and patients do not usually need treatment.
Brescia club doctor Dr. Ernesto Alicicco also protested Guardiola’s innocence. He testified that he had reviewed the substances Guardiola was taking, prescribed by Dr. Ramon Segura, and declared that there was not even a hint of suspicion that the substances were taken for doping purposes.
Dr. Alicicco himself was no stranger to doping scandals. In 1990, while AS Roma club doctor, two of his players tested positive for phentermine. Phentermine is a psychostimulant drug, pharmacologically similar to amphetamine, that is used medically as an appetite suppressant for short-term use and as an adjunct to exercise and reduced calorie intake.
Dr. Alicicco was forced to defend himself in consequent criminal proceedings. He was initially suspected by deputy prosecutor Silverio Piro of prescribing these “psychotropic substances [phentermine] for non-therapeutic uses.” Alicicco was eventually cleared only for Andrea Carnevale, who was banned for a year for the failed test, to claim he was also given another substance, Micoren, by the Roma doctors.
“Some drugs like Micoren we took them, but I’m not a doctor and I do not know what to say the drugs were that they gave us,” he stated. The use of Micoren was widespread in Italian football in years gone by and has since caused great controversy.
Micoren is used as a support drug in the treatment of pulmonary disease and respiratory failure. It improves breathing, but, at least in the short-term, also has strong side effects: vasoconstriction, tachycardia, and cardiac and circulatory problems.
In 2005, an Italian judge investigated the suspicious deaths of three former Fiorentina players, who had taken Micoren, amid fears that drugs their clubs allegedly gave them triggered their fatal illnesses.
Dr. Alicicco would eventually respond to the claims of his former patient. “Carnivale remembers wrongly. Moreover he played for many teams, it is likely he was thinking of some other dressing room that he attended. And then, believe me, the Micoren was just fresh water,” Dr. Alicicco asserted.
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Finally cleared
In 2007, there was finally some light at the end of the tunnel for Guardiola. After two failed appeals a shred of hope remained when Guardiola’s close friend, personal assistant and formal water polo great Manuel Estiarte (below left, still Guardiola’s right-hand man at Manchester City) discovered changes in the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) guidelines which he thought could exonerate Guardiola.
In 2005, WADA had found that a phenomenon called “unstable urine” in samples could lead to positive tests for low levels of nandrolone. In very rare cases nandrolone could be found in samples not because of external administration but as a result of a chemical reaction that “may occur in a vial containing urine.”
WADA instructed all accredited labs to perform “stability tests” on urine samples with nandrolone concentration from 2 to 10ng/ml moving forward. Guardiola’s values were at the high end of this scale (12ng/ml for NE). Those samples that were deemed “unstable” would not constitute an adverse analytic finding for nandrolone.
Then-WADA Director General David Howman stood by the efficacy of previous testing for nandrolone and said the chances of urine becoming unstable were “very rare”. The chances were between 1 out of 1,000 and 1 out of 10,000 positive tests for nandrolone.
Guardiola was cleared by the Brescia Court of Appeals. This was not because his samples were deemed “unstable” but because it could have been possible that his four samples had been “unstable”. Guardiola was absolved of all blame because of “the impossibility to now perform stability tests on the samples taken” in 2001.
Stability tests must be carried out within five weeks of the collection of a sample. In 2007, no sample even remained to be re-tested.
Yet Italian anti-doping prosecutors would appeal the decision in 2009 arguing that Guardiola should not have been allowed another appeal. The change in WADA’s guidelines did not constitute “new evidence”, they argued, because anti-doping laboratories were correctly following the testing procedures set by WADA at the time. Further they argued that Guardiola’s representatives had never contested how the sample was collected or analysed in previous cases and that this did not form part of his previous defence.
This appeal was rejected and in 2009, beyond reasonable doubt, Guardiola was now an innocent man. His nightmare was over.
The same could not be said of his former teammate Frank de Boer. His defence, like Guardiola’s first attempted defence, attributed his positive test to contaminated supplements. De Boer said he ingested the supplements while away on national team duty with the Netherlands. The supplements were Platina multi-vitamin pills from Ortho Company. Research showed that they did not contain any nandrolone and in fact the manufacturer took legal action against de Boer. As a result he was no longer allowed to name the company in the context of the doping affair.
De Boer, who was never cleared, was not the only high profile individual to be caught taking nandrolone in the early 2000s. So were footballers Edgar Davids, Jaap Stam, Fernando Couto, and Christophe Dugarry as well as seven professional tennis players. The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ruled the doping violations were caused by supplements given to the players by the ATP’s own physios. WADA rejected this explanation and called upon the ATP to investigate further. They never did, at least not publicly.
Pep Guardiola, is the only coach in the PL (since the dismissal of Frank de Boer) to have tested positive as a player.
Sharapova, Guardiola, doping, darkness and light | Sporting Intelligence
Pep Guardiola’s two failed tests for nandrolone
In late November 2001, the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) announced that Pep Guardiola, then playing for Brescia Football Club (left), had twice tested positive for nandrolone. The timing was devastating. After a period out of the game this was only his second official match for the club. Guardiola had provided urine samples after a league game in Piacenza on 21 October and on 4 November 2001 after a match against Lazio in Rome; both samples showed levels of the anabolic steroid nandrolone above the permitted legal limit of 2ng/ml. The steroid can improve an athlete’s ability to train harder, aid recovery by reducing fatigue and help the body build muscle by producing more protein. Its performance-enhancing properties are therefore applicable across almost all sports.
Nandrolone is detectable by testing for the presence of its metabolites 19-norandrosterone (NA) and 19-noretiocholanolone (NE). Guardiola’s urine sample from October showed the presence of 9ng/ml of 19-norandrosterone (NA) and 12ng/ml of 19-noretiocholanolone (NE), six times the legal limit, for the A sample. In the B sample 8ng/ml of NA were found; NE was not tested for. The A sample from the urine taken in November showed the presence of 5ng/ml of NA and 10ng/ml of NE. In the B sample, 6ng/ml of NA was found.
The disciplinary committee of the Lega Nazionale Professionisti (the Italian league) consequently fined Guardiola €50,000, suspended him from football for four months and required him to submit to random drug testing for the four months that followed the end of the suspension. La Commissione d’Appello Federale (CAF, or football’s federal court of justice) upheld the decision after an unsuccessful appeal from Guardiola and his representatives.
Guardiola was adamant that he had done no wrong and the two positive tests had to be some sort of mistake. “A machine says I have taken nandrolone, but I know I didn’t,” he said. “Before Piacenza I only took the multivitamins that Dr. Ramon Segura, my trusted physiologist, has prepared for me for six or seven years. They consist of only specific vitamins, as evidenced by the more than 60 doping tests that I have undertaken over the many years of my career, all came back negative. I am innocent and I’m going to prove it.”
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The role of Guardiola’s personal doctor
As Guardiola mentioned, his personal doctor at the time was Dr. Ramon Segura. Dr. Segura was also physician to another player who tested positive for nandrolone just seven months before Guardiola. FC Barcelona defender Frank de Boer failed a test for nandrolone after a UEFA cup match against Celta Vigo. He produced a result of 8.6ng/ml, again well over the limit of 2ng/ml.
In the initial disciplinary proceedings conducted by the CONI in December 2001, Dr. Segura argued that the supplements he had given Guardiola were contaminated and were the cause of the positive test.
The lead prosecutor Giacomo Aiello listened to more than three hours of testimony from Dr. Segura. Dr. Segura provided the list of supplements Guardiola’s defence had had analysed in a lab in Cologne in an attempt to argue that they had been contaminated with nandrolone. However Aiello stated that the results came back “negative” and specifically that no nandrolone metabolites were found in the substances. These supplements could not have been the source of the positive test.
It became clear that despite claiming contamination, Dr. Segura could not even be sure of the contents of these supplements. It was discovered during Guardiola’s unsuccessful appeal that Dr. Segura’s behaviour in preparing Guardiola’s supplements was deemed “risky”. These supplements were prepared with “raw materials purchased from different suppliers according to market availability”, without suitable “certification of manufacturers”.
This assumedly would have caused great concern to Pep Guardiola given his trust in the doctor whose supplements he had been taking for many years. Their relationship remained strong however. Dr. Segura returned to FC Barcelona in 2009, the same season Guardiola became club manager. Guardiola took a keen interest in the substances his former physician provided to his players. “Guardiola took this program of daily supplementation very seriously and insisted to the players on the need for it and made sure they followed it,” Dr. Segura explained.
(The anguish for the two did not stop after leaving the commune of Brescia. They would face another doping scandal soon after their reunion. In 2010 UEFA fined Barcelona €30,000 for failing to provide accurate details of their players’ whereabouts. When anti-doping officials arrived to take samples, the players were not present to be tested. Barcelona blamed a system failure for their inability to notify authorities of a change in their training schedule.)
Dr. Segura’s testimony as part of Guardiola’s defence in 2001 did not suffice. The appeal committee ruled that Guardiola’s punishment should be upheld and that:
- The presence of the banned substance was incontestable.
- The values of the nandrolone found were completely incompatible with the theory that the substance was produced naturally by the body.
- The performance-enhancing effects of the substance were irrelevant to the case, it was the mere presence of nandrolone that was crucial.
Criminal proceedings and a new line of defence
The damage to Guardiola’s reputation continued – he faced criminal proceedings. Judge Matteo Mantovani of the Court of Brescia / Tribunale di Brescia dealt Guardiola a seven-month suspended prison sentence, a €9,000 fine and required him to pay the prosecution’s legal fees. This was the first criminal conviction for doping in Italy after the special law 376 came into force in 2000, legislating doping as a criminal offence.
Guardiola’s defence in criminal court differed to his civil case. Dr. Jordi Segura, not Dr. Ramon Segura, testified on Guardiola’s behalf. He attempted to demonstrate endocrinologically, yet unsuccessfully, that Guardiola suffered from Gilbert syndrome and this caused the endogenous production of nandrolone.
Gilbert syndrome is a genetic condition. People with Gilbert syndrome have mildly elevated levels of bilirubin which can sometimes give rise to jaundice (yellowing of the whites of the eyes and sometimes the skin). The condition is largely harmless and patients do not usually need treatment.
Brescia club doctor Dr. Ernesto Alicicco also protested Guardiola’s innocence. He testified that he had reviewed the substances Guardiola was taking, prescribed by Dr. Ramon Segura, and declared that there was not even a hint of suspicion that the substances were taken for doping purposes.
Dr. Alicicco himself was no stranger to doping scandals. In 1990, while AS Roma club doctor, two of his players tested positive for phentermine. Phentermine is a psychostimulant drug, pharmacologically similar to amphetamine, that is used medically as an appetite suppressant for short-term use and as an adjunct to exercise and reduced calorie intake.
Dr. Alicicco was forced to defend himself in consequent criminal proceedings. He was initially suspected by deputy prosecutor Silverio Piro of prescribing these “psychotropic substances [phentermine] for non-therapeutic uses.” Alicicco was eventually cleared only for Andrea Carnevale, who was banned for a year for the failed test, to claim he was also given another substance, Micoren, by the Roma doctors.
“Some drugs like Micoren we took them, but I’m not a doctor and I do not know what to say the drugs were that they gave us,” he stated. The use of Micoren was widespread in Italian football in years gone by and has since caused great controversy.
Micoren is used as a support drug in the treatment of pulmonary disease and respiratory failure. It improves breathing, but, at least in the short-term, also has strong side effects: vasoconstriction, tachycardia, and cardiac and circulatory problems.
In 2005, an Italian judge investigated the suspicious deaths of three former Fiorentina players, who had taken Micoren, amid fears that drugs their clubs allegedly gave them triggered their fatal illnesses.
Dr. Alicicco would eventually respond to the claims of his former patient. “Carnivale remembers wrongly. Moreover he played for many teams, it is likely he was thinking of some other dressing room that he attended. And then, believe me, the Micoren was just fresh water,” Dr. Alicicco asserted.
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Finally cleared
In 2007, there was finally some light at the end of the tunnel for Guardiola. After two failed appeals a shred of hope remained when Guardiola’s close friend, personal assistant and formal water polo great Manuel Estiarte (below left, still Guardiola’s right-hand man at Manchester City) discovered changes in the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) guidelines which he thought could exonerate Guardiola.
In 2005, WADA had found that a phenomenon called “unstable urine” in samples could lead to positive tests for low levels of nandrolone. In very rare cases nandrolone could be found in samples not because of external administration but as a result of a chemical reaction that “may occur in a vial containing urine.” WADA instructed all accredited labs to perform “stability tests” on urine samples with nandrolone concentration from 2 to 10ng/ml moving forward. Guardiola’s values were at the high end of this scale (12ng/ml for NE). Those samples that were deemed “unstable” would not constitute an adverse analytic finding for nandrolone.
Then-WADA Director General David Howman stood by the efficacy of previous testing for nandrolone and said the chances of urine becoming unstable were “very rare”. The chances were between 1 out of 1,000 and 1 out of 10,000 positive tests for nandrolone.
Guardiola was cleared by the Brescia Court of Appeals. This was not because his samples were deemed “unstable” but because it could have been possible that his four samples had been “unstable”. Guardiola was absolved of all blame because of “the impossibility to now perform stability tests on the samples taken” in 2001.
Stability tests must be carried out within five weeks of the collection of a sample. In 2007, no sample even remained to be re-tested.
Yet Italian anti-doping prosecutors would appeal the decision in 2009 arguing that Guardiola should not have been allowed another appeal. The change in WADA’s guidelines did not constitute “new evidence”, they argued, because anti-doping laboratories were correctly following the testing procedures set by WADA at the time. Further they argued that Guardiola’s representatives had never contested how the sample was collected or analysed in previous cases and that this did not form part of his previous defence.
This appeal was rejected and in 2009, beyond reasonable doubt, Guardiola was now an innocent man. His nightmare was over.
The same could not be said of his former teammate Frank de Boer. His defence, like Guardiola’s first attempted defence, attributed his positive test to contaminated supplements. De Boer said he ingested the supplements while away on national team duty with the Netherlands. The supplements were Platina multi-vitamin pills from Ortho Company. Research showed that they did not contain any nandrolone and in fact the manufacturer took legal action against de Boer. As a result he was no longer allowed to name the company in the context of the doping affair.
De Boer, who was never cleared, was not the only high profile individual to be caught taking nandrolone in the early 2000s. So were footballers Edgar Davids, Jaap Stam, Fernando Couto, and Christophe Dugarry as well as seven professional tennis players. The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ruled the doping violations were caused by supplements given to the players by the ATP’s own physios. WADA rejected this explanation and called upon the ATP to investigate further. They never did, at least not publicly.