Pep isn't going to do a Klopp! Guardiola is untouchable at Man City and has the perfect structure around him - he won't be walking away any time soon

Even though Guardiola and Klopp's paths have crossed many times, they have been on very different journeys with their clubs. Before Klopp arrived at Liverpool, the Reds were at best a sleeping giant and at worst a laughing stock. In the 25 years between Liverpool's last title win in 1990 and Klopp's arrival at Anfield, the team had mounted just two credible challenges for the English crown, in 2009 and 2014.

Though they had won the Champions League in 2005 and reached the final in 2007, they had experienced a big drop-off in Europe and had only been in Europe's elite competition once in the previous six years. Klopp's arrival changed everything, turning Liverpool into a European powerhouse and the only team who could rival City domestically.

Contrast the chaos at Liverpool with the relatively stable club Guardiola inherited in 2016; City had won two of the previous five Premier League titles and had just reached the Champions League semis.

The team had certainly become demotivated under Manuel Pellegrini but the structures that have made City so formidable under Guardiola were already in place. They already had a world-class training facility and a modernised, expanded stadium, while chief executive Ferran Soriano and sporting director Txiki Begiristain were also in situ.

Guardiola has unquestionably taken City to new heights and achieved a level of consistency and excellence his predecessors Pellegrini and Roberto Mancini could not, but a lot of the hard work had already been done before he arrived. And many of City's previous appointments at boardroom level were made with the long-term vision of hiring Guardiola.

The club had, in essence, been working for him long before he had arrived. And, bar a few personnel changes, the same structure remains. And the squad, which Guardiola has had a huge say in constructing, has gotten even better.

The institutional stability and world-class playing staff that Guardiola has benefitted from meant he was able to politely brush aside suggestions that Manchester United poaching chief football officer Omar Berrada to be their new chief executive would lead to a shift in the balance of power in Manchester.

"His knowledge goes to United but Kevin De Bruyne is still in Man City, Erling Haaland will play here so in the end it’s not as simple as that," Guardiola said. "Maybe United thinks with this person everything is going to change – congratulations. I don’t know if this is going to happen. We will be well prepared, we will adapt and adjust and move forward."

Guardiola was essentially saying that it will take a lot more than an astute CEO to fix the entrenched problems at United and a lot more to destabilise City. And looking at how the club has gone from strength to strength in every aspect since being taken over by Sheikh Mansour in 2008, it is hard to argue with him.

City's financial muscle due to their backing from Abu Dhabi is a big reason for that stability, of course. Not only is Guardiola assured of a massive salary and a contract he can effectively decide the length of, he knows his club will rarely struggle to afford a player he really wants.

That does not mean City pay silly money for transfer targets and they have been more than happy to turn away from deals they didn't fancy, such as for Declan Rice, Harry Maguire and Alexis Sanchez. But when Guardiola really wants a player, as with Haaland, he knows the club will back him.

Klopp, however, could not say the same and he has privately had big disagreements with Liverpool's hierarchy over a lack of transfer funds. Indeed, two of the Reds' biggest signings of the Klopp era, Alisson Becker and Virgil van Dijk, were only made possible due to them selling Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona for a staggering £142 million ($180m).

City players, unless they are past their prime such as Riyad Mahrez and Aymeric Laporte, are highly unlikely to want to leave the club for financial reasons. The only thing drawing players away from the Etihad Stadium is a lack of playing time (see Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Cole Palmer) or being fed up with the city of Manchester and its often grim weather, as was the case with Ilkay Gundogan.

There is another reason why Guardiola feels so secure and happy at City in ways he did not at Bayern Munich and Barcelona. Both sides are giants in their own lands and, at least when Guardiola was there, never lacked for money. But due to their size, history and prestige, the pressure can become unbearable.

Barcelona has the infamous 'entorno', a vast array of influential figures constantly stabbing each other in the back for political motives. Guardiola had bitter disagreements with Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu during his time at Barca and the scars ran so deep that years after leaving the club he lashed out at his old employers when visiting the Camp Nou with City in 2016.

Guardiola mentioned his time at Barca when asked if he sympathised with Klopp for running out of energy. He said: "I don't want to compare with him but in Barcelona I had that feeling to reflect or analyse and go for another one and I said 'please, leave me alone.' Maybe that is the feeling that Jurgen felt."

Xavi Hernandez's decision to step down as Barca coach at the end of the season was another reminder of how difficult it is to survive a long time at Camp Nou, even if you are a legendary ex-player.

Bayern might not be as toxic a place as Barca but the serial-winning Bavarians have a long-running list of former players and directors who wield a lot of influence and are never shy of mouthing off to their friends in the media if they disagree with a coach's decision. Guardiola did not take kindly to getting scathing criticism from the likes of Lothar Matthaus and Matthias Sammer while he was in Munich.

City have very few former players who wield any influence in the media and the ones they do have, such as Micah Richards and Joleon Lescott, are in thrall to Guardiola for the success he has had. Unlike at his previous two clubs, the coach's authority is never questioned.

The only person who has memorably called him out over the last seven years is Kevin Parker, the supporters' club general secretary, when the coach questioned why more fans did not attend a Champions League group stage game in 2021.

Guardiola might not quite inspire the same devotion as Klopp does on Merseyside but he still enjoys unbridled support among City fans and his name is sung at every game. More importantly, he is on exactly the same page as the people who really matter such as Soriano and Begiristain, who were with him during his golden era at Barca.

Guardiola played in the same team as Begiristain at the Camp Nou and spoke fondly of him last week: "He’s a close friend and we played together, we’ve known each other 25 or 30 years. He’s calm and the balance helps us work perfectly together," he said.

There is one elephant in the room when it comes to Guardiola and City, however, and that is the 115 charges hanging over the club from the Premier League for misreporting financial information. The case is a long way from being resolved and a verdict is likely to not arrive for at least another year, if not more. League chief Richard Masters has revealed a date for a hearing has been set, but could not disclose when.

Guardiola has tirelessly defended City's actions and only last week he took aim at UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin for weighing in on the matter. But if City - who deny any wrongdoing - are found guilty and are relegated, then Guardiola may naturally be less inclined to stay, even if he has insisted he will not quit if they drop down a division or two.

City and Guardiola will cross that bridge when they come to it, however, and while the rest of football is demanding answers to the case, it is not affecting day-to-day activity at the club.

Instead, the City juggernaut rolls on, with Guardiola at the wheel. And after ending their curse of never scoring or winning away to Tottenham, there is reason to believe they could even repeat last year's incredible treble feat. Indeed, Liverpool's determination to give Klopp a fairytale ending might be their biggest obstacle to a historic fourth-successive English league title.

Guardiola has never been sated by winning trophies and that desire to make history seems to be spurring him on. The three Champions Leagues he has to his name (two with Barca, one with City) also feels like a small amount by his standards. He will undoubtedly want to build on last year's success and equal Carlo Ancelotti as the only manager to win Europe's holy grail four times, if not surpass him by lifting a fifth.

Despite everything he has achieved and the frenetic pace he lives football at, Guardiola does not appear to be interested in slowing down just yet. Klopp's decision does not seem to have made him reflect on his own future and consider leaving before his contract runs out in 2025. If anything, he has indicated he wants to continue at City even longer and build on their incredible achievements under his watch.

"I want to do it still for one more year, and maybe extend. I'm fine. I still try to manage. We can't do more than last season but what is important is one step at a time," he said on Friday. "Players have the feeling now that we can't lose games otherwise Liverpool will leave [us behind]. We have to go to Anfield and be close. FA Cup and Champions League are around the corner. It's one step at a time but I judge if my team are alive based on every single day, they want to be there.

"The focus they have, they way that we warm up, how they talk, how they communicate, how they celebrate now, how they celebrated against Newcastle. I'm surprised a little bit of my players because after [everything] we have done they are still there. That makes me feel so proud to be part of this club."

So while there has been some hope among Manchester United and Arsenal fans of a brighter future without Klopp on the horizon, they should be wary of the fact that Guardiola is going nowhere, and neither is City's success.