No Pep Talks! Man City Refuse Amazon Access to Dressing Room as Part of Upcoming Series

Manchester City have refused Amazon the right to film Pep Guardiola's pre-match and half time team talks as part of their £10m behind-the-scenes documentary, according to the Daily Mail.

The Seattle-based conglomerate and City announced on Thursday that a 10-part fly-on-the-wall docuseries would be broadcast on Amazon's Prime internet TV channel to give fans a look behind the curtain of the current Premier League leaders.

Despite the eight-figure outlay by Amazon, however, City declined to allow the company's TV cameras to film in the dressing room before and during football matches - presumably in a bid to prevent Guardiola's tactical plans and team talks from being scrutinised and used against them by other clubs.

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City haven't ruled out allowing filming to take place in the corridors of the Etihad stadium after games though, and will allow TV cameras to be present during football staff meetings concerning other matters.

Whether Guardiola himself or others in the club's hierarchy expressed concerns over his masterplans being broadcast on Amazon remains to be seen, but it shouldn't come as a surprise over the possibility of other teams using his tweaks, words and other tactical tidbits against his side.

Amazon had to jump through a number of hurdles before being given the green light to proceed with their plans to film with City.

The Premier League, BT Sport and Sky Sports all originalyl objected to the proposal due to the latter's TV rights deals to showcase live matches but, after months of negotiations, Amazon's deal with City was ratified by all parties.

Part of that agreement will see the docuseries broadcast in the close season between mid-May and early August, and comes with the condition that the filming does not breach rights over live games both home and abroad.

If the programme proves to be a success for Amazon then there is the potential to produce another two series' worth of action and footage at City's training base, in and around matches and other behind-the-scenes content.