Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that he wanted Pep Guardiola to succeed him as the Manchester United manager, but the Spanish manager snubbed the offer.
In his new book, ‘Leading’, which will be published on Tuesday, 22nd September, former Manchester United manager and club legend Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that he wanted former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola to succeed him at the club. Sir Alex retired from the club at the end of 2012/13 season being the most successful club manager in the history of the game.
Ferguson mentioned that even before he had considered his retirement, he had approached Pep Guardiola in 2012, who was at that point of time under sabbatical after leaving Barcelona.
The legendary manager was quoted: “I had dinner with Pep Guardiola in New York in 2012, but couldn’t make him any direct proposal because retirement was not on my agenda at that point.
“He had already won an enviable number of trophies with Barcelona… and I admired him greatly. I asked Pep to phone me before he accepted an offer from another club, but he didn’t and wound up joining Bayern Munich in July 2013.”
Sir Alex Ferguson was eventually succeeded by the then Everton boss David Moyes, but unfortunately, Moyes was sacked within eight months of his tenure.
Ferguson added: “I understand why critics, particularly in light of the 2013-14 season, say we should have handled the transition better.”
Even though many speculated that Ferguson would take up the duties again after Moyes’ departure he himself clarified: “There were some who wanted me to return to the sidelines. But I was not tempted.”
The legendary manager further spoke about his first encounter with David Moyes in 1998 when he had interviewed the latter for an assistant’s job. He mentioned: “Steve McClaren was the opposite of David. He was bright, breezy, and enthusiastic.
“At that point Steve had a lot more experience in the top flight of football than David and that swung my decision.”
Alex Ferguson considered Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, Louis van Gaal, Carlo Ancelotti and Jurgen Klopp as ‘spectacular managers’ and wanted one of them to succeed him but later settled for David Moyes as none was available.
But Ferguson clarified that he always wanted Moyes to succeed and United to do well.
“I just wanted David and United to win — just as I do these days with Louis van Gaal,” said Ferguson, who claimed TV cameras are now trained on him in the directors box at every United match.
“I think they hoped they would catch me acting like Statler or Waldorf, the two curmudgeons in the Muppets who are always criticising what is happening on the stage.”
Both Louis van Gaal and Sir Alex Ferguson consider Ryan Giggs to be the future manager at Manchester United. About his former pupil, the manager said: “Ryan Giggs is eventually going to be a great manager — he has intelligence, presence and knowledge.”
‘Leading’ will be Sir Alex Ferguson’s second autobiography since his first book Alex Ferguson which was published in 2013.