09 June 2023 , 16:48
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If Pep Guardiola completes the Treble in Istanbul, and goes on to win a fourth title in a row next season, we need to have a serious conversation.
He is already the finest coach we've ever welcomed in the Premier League, but would that also make him the greatest manager of all time in English football ahead of Sir Alex Ferguson?
Victory against Inter in the Champions League final would mean Pep has basically won it all for Manchester City in seven years – including the European Cup, the holy grail.
This is the one City want to win. This is the reason they brought Guardiola to the Etihad. This is the reason they brought in Erling Haaland as goalscorer supreme.
It is fair to say Pep started from a much higher base than Fergie when he walked through the door.
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City had already won titles under Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini when he arrived in 2016, and Guardiola won nothing in his first season at the club.
Sir Alex took over an under-achieving giant listing in mid-table when he arrived at Old Trafford in 1986. His first game was a 1-1 draw at Oxford United, and it was three-and-a-half years before he delivered the first of his 25 mainstream trophies, the FA Cup, in 1990.
It's probably fairer to compare Pep's first seven years at City over the same 'window' of the Ferguson era at Manchester United, starting with 1994-5 when they missed out on the title to Blackburn on the last day and finished the season empty-handed.
Guardiola has led Man City to five Premier League titles in six years (Manchester City FC via Getty Ima)