Sir Alex Ferguson continues to regret an opportunity that could have changed the history of English football. In 2012, in New York, the former Manchester United manager met Pep Guardiola, who had won numerous trophies with Barcelona and was preparing to choose Bayern Munich as his next destination.
In his new book, “Games of My Life,” Ferguson recounts that meeting and admits that he should have acted sooner to convince the Spanish coach to take over at United. “I should have had a few more months to convince him to choose Manchester United,” is the gist of Ferguson’s regret, who humorously admits that he would have served “a lot of Tignanello” (a prestigious Italian red wine) to convince Guardiola to join United.
But history took a different turn. In 2013, Guardiola moved to Germany, while Ferguson ended his career as United manager, handing over the reins to David Moyes. A few years later, Guardiola arrived in the Premier League, but at rivals Manchester City, with whom he built one of the most dominant teams in the history of English football.
In his book, Ferguson also expresses great appreciation for Guardiola, emphasizing that the Spaniard knew how to transform the experience gained under coaches such as Johan Cruyff, Bobby Robson and Louis van Gaal into an extraordinary career, started at a young age.