Pep Guardiola named the 'GOAT' manager in Sir Alex Ferguson debate on Sky Sports

Pep Guardiola is the greatest football manager of all time for what he's done at Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City.

That is according to Jamie Redknapp, who waxed lyrical about the City manager after they won their fifth Premier League title under Guardiola in his seventh season in English football.

Guardiola's City have become an all-conquering side in the Premier League in recent years and are now chasing a treble that would match the achievement of only Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United side of 1999.

There has been a debate in recent days about where Guardiola ranks in the all-time managerial stakes, with Redknapp arguing he has eclipsed greats such as Ferguson and others across Europe.

"I think he's the greatest ever," said Redknapp on Sky Sports.

"And why I say that, is [because] he changed football. There's been some great managers if you go through history: Arrigo Sacchi, what he did with AC Milan, managers who have changed football forever and he's certainly one of them. Johan Cruyff, what he did in terms of playing out from the back.

"But when you go and watch football now, grassroots or whatever, everyone plays the Pep way, playing out from the back. We thought this was impossible, but he's changed everyone's perception of the game, midfield players coming into different areas, coming out, splitting defences.

"He's won 11 domestic titles in 14 years, 28 major trophies. You can talk about Sir Alex Ferguson as well, or Bill Shankly, but for me [Pep] has changed football forever."

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As pointed out by Sky Sports presenter Dave Jones, Guardiola is still some way off Ferguson's 13 Premier League titles. And the Catalan has the same number of Champions League triumphs as Ferguson as well – with two apiece.

He's got the chance to go beyond that number and win his first Champions League with a side other than Barcelona when City take on Inter Milan in the Istanbul final on June 10.

A Manchester derby also awaits in the FA Cup final on June 3 – another vital piece in the treble.

Topics: Manchester City, Pep Guardiola, Premier League, Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United

Dominic Booth

Dominic is a freelance journalist for SportBible who also works for the Evening Standard and Sporting News and was formerly a Manchester United writer and editor for the MEN. He's a big Test cricket fan and Arctic Monkeys obsessive.

@DomBooth19