Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has been a revelation ever since he arrived at the Etihad Stadium.
Guardiola joined Manchester City with an amazing track record from his time at Barcelona and Bayern Munich, and built on it handsomely.
Meanwhile, City’s now-struggling neighbours Manchester United haven’t really had much in the way of glory days since Sir Alex Ferguson left.
Under Ferguson, United were a force to be reckoned with, as they dominated English football during his time at Old Trafford.
Since then, their fortunes have switched, with City going on to dominate English football and even matching the Treble achieved by their neighbours.
Now, Brentford boss Thomas Frank has shared which out of Guardiola, Ferguson, Johan Cruyff and Carlo Ancelotti he considers the greatest manager of all time.
Thomas Frank picks Pep Guardiola ahead of Sir Alex Ferguson
Frank is the latest guest on Sky Sports’ Sticker Book challenge, in which he has several categories at hand and must pick one out of a four-option shortlist.
One of those regarded who he thinks is the greatest manager of all time, and Guardiola and Ferguson featured alongside Cruyff and Ancelotti.
“Sir Alex, it must be one of the greatest stories of a manager at one club… the way he transformed the club, the amount of titles he won,” said Frank.
Of Guardiola, he said: “Cruyff, of course he was also the mentor to Pep. If he developed the game to one level I think (Guardiola) would have taken it to this level.
“I think he is the single coach that has inspired the most coaches on his coaching skill and innovative way of thinking – how you build up, how you press, how you defend, how you do basically anything.
“I think he’s the best.”
Frank then shortlisted Guardiola and Ferguson and, when it came to his final pick, he went for the City boss.
“I think I’ll go with the ‘coach’ coach, because I’m more a coach myself,” concluded the Brentford boss.
What Sir Alex Ferguson has said about Pep Guardiola
Back in 2015, Ferguson suggested that he tried to convince Guardiola to take over from him at Man United.
In his book “Leading,” Ferguson says he met with Guardiola before his final season as Red boss began in 2012.
At that point, Guardiola was starting a year-long sabbatical after leaving Barcelona – however, he decided to join Bayern Munich the following summer.
“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 wrote, as per ESPN.
“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.”
A year later, Ferguson claimed that Guardiola would struggle to replicate the success he had at Barcelona when he took charge of City.
“Man City have made a real coup in getting him but Pep won’t find it easy, English football is not easy,” Ferguson told Sky Sports.
“Every foreign coach that has come to England will tell you that. Arsene Wenger was talking about that a few months after coming and even Jose Mourinho was.
“Pep will be a success but I don’t think he’ll ever replicate what he did at Barcelona because that was a high standard – they were the best.”
