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PEP Guardiola says he will not apologise for urging fans to fill empty seats at Manchester City's Etihad Stadium after his comments irritated some of the club's supporters.
The City boss said this week that he wanted a bigger crowd at Saturday's home game against Southampton than the 38,062 who watched his side's 6-3 Champions League win over RB Leipzig in midweek.
City's poor attendances and flat atmosphere for some European games are often used as taunts by rival fans but crowds of more than 50,000 turned up to watch their opening two Premier League games.
And as he doubled down over his remarks, arguing that they have been misinterpreted, the Spaniard remarkably declared: "If I'm a problem for my fans I will make a step aside."
Guardiola's comments annoyed some supporters, who felt the manager had questioned their loyalty.
The general secretary of City's official supporters' club, Kevin Parker, responded to the Catalan and called on Guardiola to be more considerate of circumstances, insisting the Spaniard "doesn't understand the difficulties" supporters face.
"[What he said] did surprise me," Parker said. "I'm not sure what that's got to do with him. He doesn't understand the difficulties that some people might have getting to a game at the Etihad on a Wednesday evening at 8pm.
"They've got kids to think of, they might not be able to afford it, [and] there are still some Covid issues about. I don't see why he comments on it."
The City manager said at his pre-match press conference on Friday: "Did I say after the game against Leipzig that I was disappointed that the stadium was not full? An interpretation is an interpretation.
"I am not going to apologise for what I said. What I said was we would love, and we need, the support.
"It doesn't matter how many people come but I invite them to come and enjoy the game because we need the support."
Guardiola said he would never criticise fans for being unable to attend games.
"I'm surprised about what happened with this man [Parker]. It's not the first time I said in my career - I said it at Barcelona and Bayern and here. When we played a tough game like Leipzig and play three days later with a lack of preparation (against Southampton) I know how difficult it is, to ask for us all to do it again on Saturday again.
"I made an approach to do something together again the next Saturday at 3pm. What I said was we need the support, with 10,000, 30,000, 40,000, 50,000 - it doesn't matter how many people come - but I invite them to come and enjoy the game because we need the support.
"If after five seasons people cannot understand my behaviour it's because they want to misunderstand exactly what I said. I'm not going to apologise for one second, because I was honest.
"I don't want to be like United, Liverpool, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, like Madrid or like all the big clubs. We are who we are. I like it.
"If I'm a problem for my fans I will step aside, it's not a problem for me. But I am one of them. Since day one I tried to do my best, that's for sure." - Agencies, September 18, 2021