‘I will defend you until the last day of our lives in the press conferences, but here I am going to tell you the truth,’ begins an angry Pep Guardiola as he addresses a packed Manchester City dressing room. ‘Some of you play better when you’re angry with me, so if you hate me, HATE ME guys! No problem at all,’ he shouts at his players, including Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling, who look down sheepishly as their superstar manager vents his frustrations.
These are the extraordinary first scenes revealed in a new trailer for Amazon docuseries All or Nothing, which gives a fly-on-the-wall look behind closed doors during City’s historic, Premier League title-winning season of 2017/18. The media giants have released the full trailer for All or Nothing, which gives a unique perspective of one of the most breathtaking title victories of all time.
City surged to glory last season, demolishing all in their path and breaking the record for the most points won and goals scored – but the docuseries shows the hard graft and sometimes fraught and frank discussions needed to achieve such feats. The documentary has managed to capture the otherwise unseen intimate moments, raw and unfiltered, with players seen to be visibly shaken and angry as Guardiola delivers scathing reviews of their performances.
In that first teasing clip, Guardiola tells his players that they perform to a higher level when they are angry with him – so urges them to ‘hate’ him to raise their performances. Guardiola is also filmed in the dressing room passionately telling City’s players that to become the very best team they must ‘learn how to play football with scorch’.
The stresses and strains of defeat are truly revealed on film, particularly when City were famously beaten by League One side Wigan in the FA Cup fifth round. Midfielder Fabian Delph can be seen launching all his fury at the dressing-room door at the DW Stadium, slamming it shut. Inside the changing room, John Stones throws his kit to the floor in rage.
But there are lighter moments, such as when the squad, led by Stones, Kyle Walker and Vincent Kompany, sings Oasis anthem Wonderwall while celebrating a win during a flight home. In May Amazon teased fans with a brief 30-second flash of footage, giving a curious insight into the mechanics of City. Now the full trailer is available for all to view, with the complete documentary set to come out on Friday, August 17.
Amazon announced the documentary deal with the club in November 2017, and it is to be screened in more than 200 countries worldwide upon release. Sportsmail first revealed the huge £10million agreement between the club and the TV giants, though opposition soon gathered to City’s actions.
City had already begun permitting filming in the Etihad Stadium dressing room, despite it being a restricted area for the Premier League’s domestic rights-holders Sky Sports and BT Sport, who between them paid £5.1billion for their current contracts. The broadcasters made their discontent known, while rival teams soon became concerned it could affect their clubs’ TV content.