One of my funniest memories of Alex Ferguson was his face when a TV interviewer suggested Manchester United’s title-winning side could almost managethemselves.

If looks could kill, then a nuclear winter would have settled on a 50-mile radius of the broadcasting studio.

Fergie had a point too. Winning teams make it look so easy because of all the incredible hard work the manager and coaches put in... and I say that as someone who understands only too well after completing my Pro Licence.

So I have to laugh when people dismiss Pep Guardiola’s managerial credentials by saying he’s only ever been at the best clubs. If it was that easy, then Barcelona wouldn’t have had four managers in the five years since he left.

Before Guardiola arrived at the Nou Camp, they’d won only two European Cups in their history, and it took him three years to equal that number. Prior to him, they had won three La Ligas in 10 years... he lifted three in four seasons.

Which is a statto’s way of saying being at the biggest clubs in the world doesn’t guarantee anything but pressure and expectation. Just ask Jose Mourinho at Manchester United, and Louis van Gaal and David Moyes.

Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho (
Image:
Getty)

One thing I know from my time in the game is that players smell weakness. What does that mean? Well, if the
manager shows any hint of not knowing what he’s doing, then the team very quickly loses faith in him. And that spells disaster.

Guardiola is a top manager, make no mistake about that. To his players, he will smell beautiful right now. He is right up there with the best in history, no matter how much he has spent on players. They will know that, believe me. They will have faith in what he wants to do, and follow what he says without question. It’s when those
questions start that you have problems, or when the manager has players who can’t do what he demands.

Last season, maybe City experienced both of those problems. Guardiola inherited a squad not good enough to follow his game-plan, and without the faith and respect to do it either.

Sir Alex Ferguson (
Image:
PA)

What did he do? Get rid of the ones not up to it, and convince those that were to buy into his philosophy. That’s top management.

Right now, City have won nothing of course, but they look class, and as Fergie told that TV fella pretty forcefully, it’s down to the manager. I reckon he didn’t do anything ground-breaking to turn City around from last season (and let’s face it, they still finished third and got to the FA Cup semi-final) but he has changed the emphasis more to what they can do, than what they can’t.

He went out and got players who COULD do it this summer, and look at them now. He also held his hands up and accepted he got some things wrong too – as his relationship with Sergio Aguero shows.

Aguero is the best striker in the league, and his goals are the reason City are tearing it up. Guardiola is intelligent enough to recognise that and show he is quite willing to change.

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That is why City will take some stopping this season. I’m not saying it’s over, by any means. I still think City – like any team (and Real Madrid in midweek were a good example) have weaknesses that can be exploited.

They will have a bad patch this season... 100 per cent. Yet I’m not convinced it will be a long one, because if their first XI is outstanding, then the squad looks superb too.

I’ve already said City can go a long way in the Champions League, and nothing that has happened so far in Europe has changed my mind. With the right wind behind them, they can win it. And who would bet against
Guardiola winning the Premier League?

If he does, then he would rightly be regarded as among the best in the world, and alongside some of the greats, because winning titles in Spain, Germany and England is a miraculous achievement.