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'We are all champions': Guardiola makes title-winning speech to Man City players and staff

The manager also posed for a photo with 81 members of staff as City begin their title celebrations.

MANCHESTER CITY MANAGER Pep Guardiola has expressed his gratitude to his players and members of the club’s staff for winning the Premier League title.

Man City / YouTube

City returned to training on Wednesday for the first time since Manchester United’s shock defeat at West Brom on Sunday secured their status as champions with five games to spare.

On Thursday, City TV released footage of the meeting in which the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss, who has now won 23 major trophies in his glittering managerial career, addressed the club’s staff and gathered them all for a team photo at the club’s Etihad training complex.

“In the end, what we have done is to be better than 19 other teams, nothing else. But what you have done – all the people here, you deserve all my respect,” said Guardiola.

“Always it will remain in my heart until the last day of my life, I am pretty sure of that. What I felt this season is something amazing.”

City’s title-winning week was slightly soured by crashing out of the Champions League at the quarter-finals 5-1 on aggregate to Liverpool just five days previously.

However, Guardiola hailed the consistency of his side throughout the course of the season that could still see them break the records for Premier League points and goals.

“You can lose one game, two games – but to be nine months, 10 months, every single day… that is the most outstanding thing an athlete can show in their lives, and the people who surround them,” added the Catalan coach.

“You create something unique in terms of the locker room, spirit and friendship. It is impossible to achieve what we achieved if you are not good human beings, if you are not good people, if you don’t accept each other.”

© – AFP, 2018

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    Mute Ferg Breen
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    Apr 16th 2012, 6:29 PM

    That is a huge shame. I think anyone with an interest in Irish boxing would have thought he was one of our hopes for an Olympic medal.
    Unfortunately if there is a hint of corruption it’s nothing new in boxing. It can have predetermined outcomes as bad as wwe sometimes.

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    Mute John Mack
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    Apr 16th 2012, 6:35 PM

    Agreed, he demolished Kenny Egan a few months ago and we had high hopes for him, he still very young though and the lad will come good .

    123
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    Mute Tigerisinthezoo
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    Apr 16th 2012, 7:57 PM

    There was always a danger of this.
    We saw what happened in Beijing with K Egan against the Chinese opponent. If the UEFA boys are taking backhanders the boxing boys are certainly taking them. Fighting a Turkish fighter in Turkey was always going to be a massive ask as a result. It’s a real pity but he’s young enough to come back for the next Olympics.
    Boxing is becoming a farce though with the blatant fixing of fights.

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    Mute Richard Keogh
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    Apr 16th 2012, 8:59 PM

    Corruption is so widespread in Turkish sport it even has it’s own Wikipedia entry http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Turkish_sports_corruption_scandal#section_1 And there are few “sports” as corrupt as boxing, there have been numerous examples in the past year alone. So whoever thought it a good idea to hold a boxing tournament in Turkey must’ve been a little on the slow side.

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    Mute Leslie Alan Rock
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    Apr 16th 2012, 9:14 PM

    Im betting the judges were Turks as well knowing the ebu

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    Mute vv7k7Z3c
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    Apr 16th 2012, 9:25 PM

    The referee was from Kazakhstan, and the ringside judges from the Philippines, China, Italy, Algeria and Croatia.

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    Mute Kevin
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    Apr 16th 2012, 9:05 PM

    Gutted…! Chin up Ward, long career ahead of you yet!

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    Mute Oswald Cobblepot
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    Apr 17th 2012, 12:32 AM

    He’s used to hearing chin down :)

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    Mute Dexter Gordon
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    Apr 17th 2012, 12:01 AM

    Boxing scoring is becoming like Eurovision voting.

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    Mute Rob Jones
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    Apr 16th 2012, 9:16 PM

    And I made a spelling mistake great :O Your’s* don’t I look silly :L

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    Mute Dave Harris
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    Apr 17th 2012, 12:01 AM

    Katie Taylor has one final chance to qualify for the Olympics but its in china probably against a Chinese girl so don’t rule out two of our best medal chances not even being at the games.

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    Mute Rob Jones
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    Apr 16th 2012, 10:36 PM

    Cheers Niall :) and the mighty Joe will be back he’ll put every man he meets on the canvas from now on! That’ll leave no doubt about it!

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    Mute Rob Jones
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    Apr 16th 2012, 9:15 PM

    Off the boxing topic, but it is incredibly annoying when you put some quotes in blue boxes and others not. Make up your mind! Plus if you use quotation marks they go at the beginning and end of a quote. You’re sincerely a stressed out leaving cert English student who struggles to correct all his own grammar etc. as well as the Journal’s! :) rant over.

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    Mute vv7k7Z3c
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    Apr 16th 2012, 9:31 PM

    Thanks Rob, nice to get some feedback on the quote boxes. Didn’t realise they were so off-putting.

    As for the quotation marks — if the quote in question continues on over a few paragraphs, it’s accepted style not to use the close marks at the end of every paragraph, just at the end of the entire quote. Although I wouldn’t start doing that for the Leaving Cert, it’ll probably just stress you out even more!

    Good luck with the exams.

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    Mute Brian O' Brien
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    Apr 16th 2012, 9:45 PM

    Yeah@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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    Mute Alan Counihan
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    Apr 17th 2012, 7:55 AM

    Get a life

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    Mute Soupy Norman
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    Apr 17th 2012, 12:37 AM

    Any word on how the protest went?
    Gutted for Ward, such a talent.

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