Manchester City’s title bid is finally over, but the bigger story around the club looks set to limp on for a day or so longer, at least.Pep Guardiola will leave the club this summer, but if you were going by his public statements, you might believe nobody has told him yet.Following the 1-1 draw against Bournemouth that confirmed Arsenal as champions, most of the media focus was on his future at City, yet he stuck to his line from the past few months, recently delivered with a knowing smile, that he has “one more year of contract”.This time, there was no smile, but no scowl either. He is keeping things ticking along for a few more days. He told us why he has not wanted to announce anything so far. It is because, he says, players stop following when announcements are made during the season, and above all, because he wants to tell his chairman before he tells us. But the game is up now, in the title race and the game around his future.A bit of a tell of his is that when he gets a little caught out, his words are harder to follow.“With the club always I talk, but not (just) now, (since) three, four seasons ago when there was one year left, or I didn’t extend, and the first thing you have to understand is I should talk with my chairman first, right? And after that, when I talk with my chairman, we decide to have one more year, we talk everything and we will decide.”Those talks will come in the next few days. Fans will be hoping that, if he is true to his word and a decision is still to be made, he might decide to stay after all. Plans are in place, though. The Co-op Live event on Monday, billed as a celebration of the men’s two trophies and the women’s league title, is also set to double as a Guardiola leaving do. Enzo Maresca is waiting to take charge.(Naomi Baker/Getty Images)“Always I said that fighting for the titles or qualifications or Premier Leagues or FA Cups, the reason you don’t go, in that first moment there is a problem, the players don’t follow you any more,” he said, basically explaining why he has not made his decision public yet. “You have to stay there, and always I will talk with my chairman. Always he says, ‘Pep, what are you going to do?’, and I say, ‘Let the season go and when it is over we will talk’. I think he deserves (me) to talk to him about what we have to do.”It must be a difficult position for him. He has been speaking nostalgically for weeks, and giving opinions on others, like Bernardo Silva and John Stones, who have announced their own departures. He has given many hints that he is going but has tried to hold it together to maximise his chances of going out with one more league title. On the night the dream died, he still could not get everything off his chest.The 3-3 draw at Everton a fortnight ago added a strange dynamic to the title race as far as City fans were concerned. Everybody knew, in their heart of hearts, that the title had gone, but Jeremy Doku’s last-gasp strike did provide a small dose of hope that endured until Tuesday night. It would have kept enough fear in Arsenal, too. It saved the title race from being officially over, the dopamine rush of a late goal sustaining a sense of drama.Even heading to Bournemouth, there was a sense that the game was one bridge too far for City, especially as they looked leggy even in their FA Cup final victory over Chelsea on Saturday. Bournemouth are on a long unbeaten run, don’t you know? There are a lot of draws in there, which takes the shine off it a bit, but a draw was all they needed for a European party, and it was all Arsenal needed to seal the title. It was a draw that felt like it might have been coming all day.So the title race is over, the hopes of exactly one month ago, when City beat Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium to blow things wide open, gradually faded away. There was no major disaster, just a couple of stutters. The story of the season, actually, for both teams. Arsenal stuttered least.Manchester City players after their draw with Bournemouth (Eddie Keogh/Getty Images)There was no agony in the away end, not just because there was not much genuine hope remaining, but because there is a bigger story brewing. It is a bit like the last few weeks of the title race, actually. Everybody knows what is happening, everybody knows bad news is coming, but confirmation is slow in arriving.And still not yet. Guardiola’s comments after the match keep up the pretence of the last couple of months. It has become a game, really. Journalists have enjoyed asking him about a variety of topics, directly or indirectly linked to his future, and he has enjoyed answering them.He has given away enough to know that he is leaving, if you read between the lines, but of course, most supporters have not heard the whispers from sources around the club for the past few weeks, in some cases months, that everything points towards a departure. They have not wanted to hear them, either, and so whenever he has talked about having one year left on his contract, that was widely received as confirmation that he is staying. Having time left on a contract, of course, does not necessarily mean seeing it out.On many occasions, he has talked about next season, and often used the word ‘we’. Sometimes it really sounds like he will be around to guide the team after all, but he was also asked in March if he actually includes himself when he says ‘we’. His answer was that, like Barcelona and Bayern Munich, he has become so attached to the club that he will always say ‘we’, whether he is actually there or not. The royal we.With every quip, every hasty exit to avoid the question, the truth has gotten closer to the surface. The game really is up.