Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney believes that his former manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, maintains superiority over Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola in the realm of managerial greatness.
This season, Guardiola guided City to their fourth consecutive Premier League title, an accomplishment unmatched by Ferguson or any other team in English football history.
This extends Guardiola’s tally to six Premier League titles in his eight seasons with Manchester City.
Nevertheless, Guardiola’s achievement falls short of Ferguson’s record of 13 championships during his illustrious 26-year tenure at Manchester United.
“I think of course there are going to be arguments as to who is better, but I think people tend to just look at what Sir Alex did at Manchester United, and what he did at Aberdeen was incredible,” Rooney said in an interview with ESPN Brasil.
“And you’d ask the question: could Guardiola do that at a team like Aberdeen?
“There’s questions, there’s debate, and I think Guardiola for his era is of course the best and he’s changed the way football is played worldwide… but yeah for me, Sir Alex, what he achieved in the game is incredible.”
Before joining Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson achieved remarkable success with Aberdeen, winning three Scottish titles and disrupting the long-standing dominance of Celtic and Rangers.
Notably, he led Aberdeen to a memorable victory over Real Madrid in the 1983 European Cup Winners’ Cup final.
In contrast, Pep Guardiola has a 3-2 edge over Ferguson in Champions League titles, having won two with Barcelona and one last season as part of a treble with Manchester City.
Wayne Rooney, who played under Ferguson for nine years and became Manchester United’s all-time leading scorer, has expressed great respect for Guardiola. Earlier this year, Rooney even suggested he would be open to working as Guardiola’s assistant.
“If Pep Guardiola comes in and asks me to be his assistant, you’d walk there,” Rooney told the Stick to Football podcast.
“You see what [Mikel] Arteta is doing now [at Arsenal] and I strongly believe a lot of that is from learning what Guardiola was doing, and so it depends on what the situation is.
“For me, the best manager is Pep and you look at how he adapts — how they [City] are playing now is not the same as how they were playing four years ago.”
Since then, Rooney has returned to management, taking on the role of head coach for English Championship side Plymouth Argyle ahead of the upcoming season.