Pep Guardiola pays ultimate Sir Alex Ferguson compliment after Man Utd axe

Manchester United icon Sir Alex Ferguson has been fto spell from his £2million-a-year ambassadorial declaration astatine Old Trafford and Pep Guardiola has travel retired successful support

Pep Guardiola has hailed Sir Alex Ferguson arsenic football’s greatest-ever manager - and insisted helium has nary volition of staying astatine Manchester City conscionable to surpass the erstwhile Manchester United boss.

At the extremity of a week erstwhile it was revealed that Ferguson had been axed from his £2million-a-year ambassadorial relation astatine Old Trafford, Guardiola paid the 82-year-old Scot the eventual compliment.

Guardiola is presently contemplating his ain aboriginal astatine City aft lifting the Premier League rubric six times successful his 8 seasons astatine the Etihad - including a record-breaking four-in-a-row.

Fergie guided United to 13 titles. It took him 26 years - but Guardiola claims helium is blessed conscionable to beryllium mentioned successful the aforesaid speech .

Guardiola said: “In this state and each astir the world, Sir Alex Ferguson is the best. For the time, for the alteration of teams, for the trophies…

“Being adjacent to 1 of the astir important managers of each clip is much than enough. It’s an unthinkable honour for maine and for each the staff, each the assistants and each the players I’ve had. It’s not conscionable an honour for me.

“When radical accidental ‘Pep is 1 of the best’ that’s due to the fact that of the players I had, the adjunct managers and the adjunct coaches - and we person had many. All of them make this consciousness that we are bully - and that is enough. I don’t combat for thing else.

"For the United fans, it's ever Sir Alex. Absolutely fine. I’m not saying I'm a atrocious manager, different I could not beryllium present for a agelong clip and beryllium a success. But to beryllium the champion oregon not the best, judge me, it's not important.

“So my contenders arsenic a manager? Jurgen Klopp made maine a amended manager, Jose Mourinho made maine a amended manager, Mikel Arteta present is making maine a amended manager. We request that, truthful it's happening. But to beryllium the precise champion is not, I think, honestly, it's not the point.”

Guardiola is retired of declaration astatine the extremity of the play and City’s owners are trying to transportation him to instrumentality his reign to a decennary and beyond by signing an extension.

But the Catalan volition suffer 1 of his closest confidantes successful the summertime erstwhile Txiki Begiristain steps down arsenic manager of shot and volition beryllium replaced by Hugo Viana.

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