Manuel Pellegrini has said he would rather win the title and be sacked by Manchester City than continue as manager without enjoying that level of success.
Pellegrini takes his side to Everton for Wednesday's English League Cup semi-final first leg hoping to guide City to a second triumph in the competition in three years. He won the Premier League in his first season in charge and City sit third in the table on 39 points, three points behind the leaders, Arsenal. The manager stated the title is the priority and he would take it at the cost of his job.
Pep Guardiola has confirmed he wants to coach in the Premier League next season and there continues to be confidence at City that the Spaniard will become the club’s manager.
Although not discussing this precise scenario Pellegrini, whose contract expires at the end of the 2016-17 season, stated that if he were to win the championship and then be removed that would be acceptable. “I don’t think my position in the future is linked to titles,” he said.
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“For me, as a manager, it’s important to win the title because it’s my job. You ask me personally, my way of thinking is that if I have the option to renew here for five years more or to win the title and be sacked, I’d prefer to win the title. For a manager, your work is to win the title, so the other doesn’t matter.”
Pellegrini denied it would be harder for City or any club to sack a manager who has won a trophy that season. “I don’t think so. I think that if you are the owner of a club, you must have the option to replace the manager if they win the title or if they don’t win the title,” he said.
"It just is about your trust in the way you work. That is more important than if you win a title or not for the owners. That's why we are just talking about Real Madrid always changing if you don't win a title. I don't think that's the best way. On the other side, you can win a title, and of course the owner can not be happy with your work and they have the right to change. But as managers, the most important thing is to win."
Despite the continuing uncertainty regarding his long-term future Pellegrini stated City are different to Real. Rafael Benitez was sacked after half a season on Monday, while Pellegrini was removed from Real following the 2009-10 season in which they finished second, with 96 points.
“A lot of things are different. That is why one team is changing its manager every year and at this club it is not the policy of the owners to change immediately when you don’t win a title. I repeat, different projects for each club,” Pellegrini said.
“At least I finished the year [at Real]. I knew from the beginning I was not to continue for the next year. There were some important differences with the president but it is not strange when you see what happened in Real Madrid in the last five or six years. I am sorry about Rafa Benitez because I think he is a manager who deserves respect but it is not strange what happened at Real Madrid.”
Impressive late equaliser
Pellegrini believes
Yaya Toure
may no longer be able to play every game for City. The midfielder scored an impressive late equaliser in Saturday’s 2-1 victory at Watford and is expected to start at Everton but the manager accepts that, at the age of 32, Toure may have to be rested on occasion.
“I think every player must always want to play every game,” Pellegrini said. “That’s a good mentality. Yaya always tries to play. Maybe for the amount of games we must play, it’s not good for him to play every game. But I’m very happy with the mentality of those players that they are always ready to play.
“He’s not only scoring important goals – he’s scored important goals in the last few games - but I think Yaya gives very good play to our team. He’s the midfielder from where the balls have the most amount of passes to make the last decisive pass, so I think he’s a very important player.
“A lot of media criticise his body language and the way he runs but if you had all the statistics of Yaya after every game, he’s the one player who runs more.” Guardian Service
