Composed Images

Llantrisant

green is back. for now. the ponds again.

grad july

space invaders

Come what may juneish

Creigiau Carnival

tree tinkering

forest fiddling

time twiddling

half term hole

ends fair to middling

A rare offering from the archives to mark the end of an era-defining Premier League career. Manchester City’s iconic manager since 2016, Pep Guardiola, is to leave the club at the end of this 2025/26 season.

Back when he first arrived, and I was regularly shooting matches, he wore full suits and had a sense of unusually possessed style. As time and trophies wore on, his clothing became more casual — hoodies, sweaters and roll-necks maybe allowed more animation.

Pep embodied a wild pitchside theatricality and aliveness that was always compelling and sometimes hard to watch. No more so than when his side were enduring a difficult run of results and he couldn’t stop himself from frustratedly scratching blood from his face, then awkwardly trying to deflect in a post-match press conference. He was emblazoned with intensity and I worried for him, knowing the relentless drumbeat of elite sport can blur and dim everything else in life.

He lost his father and showed deep political passions around the plight of Palestine, but seemed to maintain an insatiable hunger for success and trophies, even after winning everything. He kept reworking his squad and his team kept winning. But the lingering uncomfortable legal question mark over Manchester City’s financial fair play has rumbled on for years.

When the full-time whistle sounded at the FA Cup Final last Saturday, marking yet another trophy for City, Pep stood up from his seat looking jarringly unmoved. Barely a smile. Was that cancerous financial fair play question mark finally growing? Was he leaving? Whatever the financial play rulings, Pep Guardiola will go down in history as one of the great Premier League managers.

saundersfoot scapes

marchendise