“Yes, this is true,” says Mohammad Abbas, matter-of-factly, during a chat at Trent Bridge. The question concerns the time Manchester City supposedly asked for Pep Guardiola to be billeted in the penthouse at Hampshire’s on-site hotel before a match in Southampton – only to be told a more important guest was in town.
“I didn’t know about it at the time but our head coach told me the next morning that he had wanted my room,” Abbas says of Guardiola. “The Hilton emailed the Hampshire management to ask if it was possible but they were told no, I would be spending six months there. So that was what happened.”
