United did not listen to Sir Alex
IT was September 2012 when Sir alex Ferguson met Pep Guardiola for dinner in New York and expressed a desire for the former Barcelona coach to succeed him at Old Trafford.
‘I couldn’t make him any direct proposal because retirement was not on my agenda at that point,’ Ferguson confirmed in his book,
Leading, earlier this year. ‘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.’
as Guardiola edged closer to leaving Bayern and the welcoming arms of Manchester City yesterday, united fans could be forgiven for wondering what happened to their club’s interest in the Spaniard.
Why, when doubts seem to grow by the week over the progress being made under louis van Gaal, would united not even consider Guardiola?
The answer may lie in Van Gaal and the noises coming out of Old Trafford from senior figures in recent weeks. The Dutchman has been described as a ‘ genius manager’ and many of the concerns about him are simply dismissed.
‘The owners are completely happy with the job louis is doing,’ said one. ‘He has brought an organisation and discipline to the club, and any change of manager would undermine that work.’
That was before defeats by Wolfsburg and Bournemouth piled even more pressure on, but the emphatic nature of the support for him has not changed over the course of the last 10 days.
united’s owners, we were told, are so satisfied they would actually like the 64-year-old to stay longer. The club is heading in the right direction. reports of player unrest have been exaggerated. In short, if City want to pursue Guardiola then they are welcome to him.
The word from within Old Trafford is that united have no appetite whatsoever to jettison Van Gaal two years into a threeyear deal to accommodate Guardiola just because he has decided to quit Bayern in the summer.
another theory is that united knew City were so far down the road in appointing Guardiola as their next manager that it was futile trying to sabotage the move once cracks began to appear in Van Gaal’s regime. Why embarrass themselves by even trying?
Either way, it’s unlikely their supporters will be quite so relaxed about the prospect of a two-time Champions league-winning coach pitching up across town at the Etihad at a time when united are still coming to terms with demotion to the Europa league.
Mischievous rumours circulating on social media that fans are hiring a plane to fly a banner protesting against Van Gaal at Saturday’s home game with Norwich have turned out to be just that, but frustration over united’s mediocre performances and dour style of football is very real indeed. City supporters, in contrast, will be rubbing their hands with glee. It’s no secret their club have been moulding themselves on Barcelona for some time now and see Guardiola as the final piece in the jigsaw.
Club insiders insisted last night that a deal has not been done. But chief executive Ferran Soriano and director of football Txiki Begiristain promised City’s abu Dhabi owners they would deliver the coach they worked with at the Nou Camp, and it looks like they have succeeded.
Guardiola was on a sabbatical after leaving Barca when he met Ferguson in the united States three years ago, at a time when Van Gaal, Carlo ancelotti, Jose Mourinho and Jurgen Klopp were unavailable.
Klopp has since moved to the Premier league, of course, and Ferguson admitted earlier this month that he is worried about the impact the German is having at liverpool.
That may be the least of united’s problems if City land Guardiola.