Sir Alex Ferguson wishes a 2012 dinner with Pep Guardiola had taken place sooner, so he could have convinced the Spaniard to fill his shoes at Manchester United. Guardiola had already committed his future to Bayern Munich and went on to manage rivals Manchester City.
It has been 13 years since Ferguson departed United. During his nearly 27-year reign, the Scotsman secured his legacy as an Old Trafford legend, claiming 13 Premier League titles, two UEFA Champions League trophies, and an array of domestic and international honors.
David Moyes was personally selected to step into his shoes but famously found them impossible to fill. He survived just 10 months in the role after being appointed in July 2013, before being shown the exit in April 2014.
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Reflecting in his new book, ‘Games of My Life,’ Ferguson recalls a meeting he had with Guardiola a year before he stepped down. The Spanish tactician had impressed as Barcelona manager and had all but sealed a deal with Bayern. Yet Ferguson maintains that if he could rewind the clock, he would have arranged the dinner sooner and attempted to persuade him to join United, via The Mirror.
Guardiola masterminded a continental sextuple in 2009 as Barcelona boss, and after arriving at Bayern in 2013, he collected seven major trophies. His tenure at City – which has been brought into question following the club’s guilty financial charges ruling, which they have appealed and continue to deny – was packed with silverware.
He claimed six top-flight championships and the Champions League, alongside a wealth of additional silverware in England. Yet things could have unfolded very differently. Ferguson wrote: “Over the past ten years, I have often wondered what might have happened if the dinner I had with Pep in New York in 2012 had taken place a couple of months earlier.
“At the time, I hadn’t decided for certain that I was going to retire. And Pep was convinced that, after achieving huge success in just four years in La Liga with a Continental treble as well as a League and Champions League double, he wanted to try life in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich.
“If I could rewind time, we would have dined some months earlier, I would have poured plenty of Tignanello (Italian wine) and I would have tried my hardest to convince him that his future lay in Manchester. Unfortunately for us, it did. Enough said.”
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Ferguson had yet to commit to retirement when he sat down with Guardiola, but following the passing of his late wife Cathy’s sister in December 2012, he made the agonizing choice to step away down at Old Trafford.
Ferguson continued: “Pep has set a breathtaking standard for the current generation of players or anybody aspiring to become a manager. Draped in Barcelona’s blue and garnet from the time he was born, he had a brilliant club career and was one of the best creative midfielders in the game during the 1990s.
“During his playing days, Pep had more than a taste of success – he positively feasted on it. He also had the opportunity to play for a series of strong personalities with different approaches to managing – Johan Cruyff, Bobby Robson and Louis van Gaal.
“Pep became manager of Barcelona when he was just thirty-seven years old. When I see some of the game’s biggest stars leave the field and immediately take a manager’s job without much preparation or experience, my heart sinks. It often ends badly, especially for the Premier League players.
“The stakes are too high. You’re right in everyone’s crosshairs. The public expect that your success on the field will automatically transfer to the dugout. Former players are impatient to make the transition to the top tier. Pep Guardiola is the most celebrated example of a manager who started with a top club when he was relatively young.”