It begins: Guardiola unveiled to Manchester City's supporters

Welcome to Manchester City, Pep Guardiola.

The festivities for City's new addition took place on Sunday afternoon at the Cityzens' Weekend, as Guardiola was introduced to the club's supporters on a stage outside the Etihad Stadium. However, rather than carrying him upon shoulders while feeding him grapes, the unveiling was a somewhat informal affair, evidenced by the Catalan manager's casual attire and questions from a select group of fans instead of the press.

The presentation was briefly delayed after someone in the crowd became ill just as Guardiola was about to come out, but Pep eventually took the stage to the sound of Oasis' "(What's the Story) Morning Glory?" and was greeted with a loud round of applause.

"I have no preconceptions at all about about coming to England or the football in the Premier League," Guardiola said. "I want to learn as much as possible. I have an idea of how we will play, but when I arrived in Germany with Bayern Munich, I had some ideas of how the team would play but changed them as I went along.

"I know how hard the Premier League is and some people have said that I will find it hard to play the football I like to play in England so I said to myself 'Why not?' That's why I'm here - because I want to try. We have to find a way to win and if we win one game, the next we will say 'OK, let's try and do the same things this week' - and if we again, we'll say, 'let's do the things that won us those two games' and so on.

"I've been told that it will be hard to do that in the Premier League, but we did it at Barcelona and Bayern Munich and people may say, 'Yes, that's because it was Barcelona and Bayern - it won't be possible to do that in England' and I just say OK, let's try."

Guardiola also spoke of City's youngsters and academy, proclaiming: "I came through the best academy in the world at Barcelona and when I arrived in the first team, I already knew players like Pedro and (Sergio) Busquets and settled in quickly - if a young player has the ability and they show me the passion to succeed in the world of football, they will be in my hands. It all depends on their quality and passion."

While Guardiola was taking questions from supporters, a rascal in the crowd asked if the manager is going to purchase Lionel Messi, to which Pep replied, according to Nick Miller of the Guardian: "He's not a bad player, this guy. But I'm sorry, Messi has to stay in Barcelona for the rest of his career."

Related - Watch: Manchester City fan asks Guardiola to buy Messi

There was also a point in which Guardiola said he wanted to "hug" and "kick the arse" of his players.

City's first training session under Guardiola will take place on Monday and his first fixture as the Citizens' manager will come on July 20, when the club takes on Bayern at the Allianz Arena. After the match, the team will travel to China for a pre-season tour that includes matches against Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund in the International Champions Cup.