Pep Guardiola reacts to Manchester City fans' anger at his cup crowd criticism

Pep Guardiola has revealed he had no intention to criticise Manchester City fans, sharing his disappointment on the crowd at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday. The Blues' 4-0 win over Fulham in the FA Cup 4th round had 39,000 attendance and was the third biggest result of the day, behind Newcastle and West Ham. However, Guardiola expressed his disappointment upon the crowd's size and the level of support. City fans protested Guardiola's comments, while the club boss has revealed at the time he had no idea the game was live on the BBC, and that the disappointment was at himself, for not filling the ground. Speaking on the issue, he said: "First of all, of course I understand it. Of course I understand it. Never was it my intention to offend them. They are part of us. But since I arrived here from day one until the last day what i want is fight and play as good as possible to see the Etihad Stadium full every single game. It belongs to us to play good to seduce them to come because the only reason why we do our job and I do my job is not for the titles, it’s to go to the Etihad Stadium and see it's absolutely full with people, enjoying games together because when we win and they are not satisfied it is not a reason to be there. But of course I understands it’s difficult for the people to do that, it’s not necessary to tell me because I was part of that when I was a little boy with mum and dad so I know exactly what happened. But since I arrived here I learned from English football how important are the Premier League and the FA Cup, more important at this club than Champions League, much, much more. We knew it through the club and our experience. It was my mistake that I thought: oh it’s Sunday 1 pm, today will be full and I didn’t know it was on BBC, not Sky, so they can watch it and people can decide whether to go to the stadium or not. We try to do our best to let them be proud of our team but I will try it again to push them to be with us as much as possible, if it is possible to be every single game full full full, it will be better because it’s the sense, you know, to do something for our people and I know how to appreciate because I know how much people come when we play away. I know them, we feel them, they chant  and it is so nice to have them outside and I know for them it’s not easy, that is why I will always be grateful to the support and every time the people away at home people come to be with us to be with us to try to make our games and fun and sometimes win games."

Source: MEN 

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