Ferguson: United Wanted Guardiola

Ferguson: United Wanted Guardiola

In his new book on the art of management, Leading, Sir Alex Ferguson admits that Manchester United should have dealt with his departure in 2013 much better.

The Scot, who won two Champions Leagues, 13 Premier League titles, five FA Cups and four League Cups at the club, was replaced by David Moyes, who was sacked after 10 months and failed to lead the club into Europe’s premier club competition.

It seemed as though Moyes was hand-picked by Ferguson, but this has proven to be false as the 73-year-old revealed he wished to speak to former Barcelona and now Bayern Munich boss Pep Guardiola.


Ferguson also said the club considered Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, former Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti, Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp and then Netherlands boss Louis van Gaal, now at United, as replacements.

“I admired [Pep] greatly,” Ferguson said after meeting him in New York in 2012.

“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.”

“When we started the process of looking for my replacement, we established that several very desirable candidates were unavailable.”

Ferguson believes current United manager Van Gaal did well by appointing Ryan Giggs as his assistant at Manchester United. The Welshman won 34 trophies under Ferguson, making him the most decorated player in English football history, before retiring in 2014.

“Louis made a great choice because of Ryan’s knowledge, his time at the club and his ability.”

“I think Ryan seems to enjoy that he is learning off a man with great experience. It’s working. There is good communication, Ryan’s working very hard and picking up things from a foreign coach which is different from the way I operated so it looks as if it’s going OK.”

[All quotes and info via BBC Sport]