Ex-City midfielder Dietmar Hamann reckons Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has only kept his job because there is “some Barcelona\u00a0history” in the boardroom at the Etihad.<\/p>\n
Although the celebrated Spaniard won back-to-back Premier League titles and has won three successive League Cups, he has conspicuously failed to take City past the quarter-final stage of the Champions League in his four completed seasons in the competition.<\/p>\n
Hamann is insistent that Guardiola’s record in Europe is “simply not good enough” as the former Barca boss also failed to reach a Champions League final at his previous club Bayern Munich.<\/p>\n
However, Hamann says the presence of former Barca director of football Txiki Begiristain on the City board has helped Guardiola keep his job at the Etihad despite the latter\u2019s failure to challenge for Champions League glory in Europe.<\/p>\n
Begiristain played alongside Guardiola at Barca between 1990 and 1995 and was director of football during his first two years of management at the Nou Camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you look at their record in the Champions League, any other manager would\u2019ve been in big bother,\u201d the German told talkSPORT<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously he\u2019s got some Barcelona history in the boardroom and maybe that\u2019s why he\u2019s still there.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn\u2019t reach a final with Bayern Munich or Man City \u2013 and if you look at the teams who did, they don\u2019t have the same funds.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s simply not good enough. If you look at the teams who beat them, I just wonder what has to happen for them to make a change.<\/p>\n
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