I thought Pep Guardiola was different – but he is just as poisonous as Jose Mourinho. His victimhood and mockery of a referee on debut is toxic, writes IAN HERBERT

It will be 10 years this summer since Pep Guardiola sat down to give his inaugural press conference as Manchester City manager and it is fair to say some of us present felt a blessed release from the fear, loathing and general toxicity of Jose Mourinho, whom he was about to go up against.

Mourinho remained what he always had been — a deeply unpleasant individual, raging against the dying of his light — until his departure from these shores when Tottenham showed him the door five years ago. Guardiola always seemed different, though he, too, seems to be morphing into an individual with some of the traits of his old adversary. This weekend brought us another deeply unpleasant example.

Guardiola dispenses his poison calmly and yet brutally, with referee Farai Hallam the latest recipient of one of the vials. Not content with questioning the referee’s decision to stick to his on-field decision that Wolves’ Yerson Mosquera had not handballed in his own area against City, Guardiola opted to curate his attack around mockery of Hallam as a debutant Premier League referee.

‘He made a huge debut. Now everybody will know about him,’ said Guardiola, who had been dripping with sarcasm as he sought the 32-year-old out to shake his hand after the match.

This is the same manager who asked for confirmation that one of his inquisitors was a Sky Sports reporter before Christmas — because he doesn’t like the broadcaster, whose vast funding pays most of the bills — and who told journalists last year that ‘my life is better than yours.’ 

The same manager who recently yanked a cameraman’s headphones off whilst he was undertaking professional duties. We have to hope Hallam will be undeterred by Guardiola’s snide little jab at his Premier League inexperience because his decision to stick to the ruling that there had been no handball, despite fourth official Darren England reviewing it and sending him to the monitor, was a refreshing one.

Jose Mourinho remains a deeply unpleasant individual, raging against the dying of his light

We keep hearing that VAR is there to assist referees, not to overrule in a way which makes them automatons, yet every time a Premier League official has been asked to re-examine something at the monitor this season, he has fallen in line with Stockley Park.

Given this was Hallam’s first appearance in the Premier League cauldron, it would have been easy for him to go with England’s suggestion that City were due a penalty. The very fact that England had needed an interminable three minutes and 20 seconds to examine Mosquera’s action tells us that the ‘clear and obvious error’ threshold for reviewing match-changing incidents was not there. The Wolves player’s arms were not in a wholly unnatural position. His distance from the ball when it was struck also told us a penalty for City would have been harsh.

In the heat of the moment, Hallam was standing in front of a monitor with the collective desire of a packed Etihad ringing in his ears, as well as the voice of England, telling him why he should reconsider. Yet he still stuck to his decision.

Hallelujah! Human prevails over machine. Logic and instinct override the technical manual. Common sense wins the day. If Hallam can stick with his decision, then so might others like him, who have even more experience. This felt like a very good day for refereeing.

Many officials have expressed that sentiment. ‘How refreshing! Well done Farai,’ said former referee Mark Halsey. ‘Fair play to him,’ said another ex-official, Mike Dean.

Guardiola says he expects Howard Webb to be in touch to apologise and has even suggested when might be convenient to receive that call, within the limitations of his very busy diary. ‘Don’t wait for Wednesday, we have Champions League. We are busy,’ he said.

Well, let’s hope the only outcome of such a conversation will be the PGMO chief politely suggesting that Guardiola should afford the officiating team some respect and stop the trash talk.

Guardiola’s air of victimhood on Saturday extended to the bizarre notion that City’s six titles in nine years have been achieved despite referees ruling against them. ‘Even with these decisions we can win,’ he said. More palpable nonsense. I don’t even recall Mourinho suggesting officialdom had been systematically ruling against him over the best part of a decade.

Fulminating against perceived injustice would be a little more acceptable from Guardiola if another of the titans of the modern game had come to City’s ground and left with a narrow win, based on a narrow call. This was a 2-0 win against one of the weakest sides the Premier League has ever known.