Manchester United legend Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that he wanted Pep Guardiola to succeed him at Old Trafford after he stepped down in 2012.
Ferguson, 73, is an all-time legend and it’s said by many that he is the best club manager to ever grace the game.
It would be hard to disagree with that after he helped guide United to 10 league titles while delivering two Champions League trophies in four finals. Ferguson was the real deal and its only now that United fans realise how good he was with David Moyes failing in the same role while current boss Louis van Gaal is only just beginning to convince fans after 12 months in charge.
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United were a force for many years in the Premier League and won a number of titles with players such as Eric Cantona, Ryan Giggs, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ruud van Nistelrooy all wearing the red shirt. It was utter dominance at times but it was Ferguson who was key in all that, with his strong attitude and tough personality ensuring the players gave it their all in every single game.
However, when he left in 2012 it was a big shock and many players didn’t take to it well, Robin van Persie and Shinji Kagawa two of those. And it was clear to see why when Moyes took the champions down to seventh place, eventually leading to his sack after just one season.
But Ferguson himself admitted that he wanted others in charge, and in his new book, ‘Leading’, the Scotsmen confirms that Bayern Munich boss Guardiola was his first choice.
Guardiola however snubbed Ferguson after the former United boss told him to phone him once he planned to leave Barcelona he didn’t.
"He said, as reported in the Telegraph: “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,” Ferguson said. “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.”"
The Spanish manager has since been at Bayern and he is winning the fans over despite letting Bastian Schweinsteiger join the Red Devils. Guardiola has signed Douglas Costa and Arturo Vidal and they are the kind of players United need at present.
Ferguson though, also had other targets when he planned to leave but all of those were unavailable, Jurgen Klopp, Van Gaal, Carlo Ancelotti and Jose Mourinho. Most of them, if not all had plans with their current clubs and that’s what lead to Moyes arriving.
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"“When we started the process of looking for my replacement, we established that several very desirable candidates were unavailable,” he continued. “It became apparent that Jose Mourinho had given his word to Roman Abramovich that he would return to Chelsea, and that Carlo Ancelotti would succeed him at Real Madrid.“We also knew that Jürgen Klopp was happy at Borussia Dortmund and would be signing a new contract. Meantime, Louis van Gaal had undertaken to lead the Dutch attempt to win the 2014 World Cup,” Ferguson added."
Van Gaal, who was a target back in 2012 is now in charge and the Dutchmen is doing an okay job. He has guided United back into Europe while starting his second season strongly.
Now he needs to deliver trophies and hopefully he will do so come May.