Pep Guardiola PHOTO X @ESPNFC
After 10 years spent at Manchester CityPep Guardiola decided to leave the team at the Etihad. Years spent in Premier League there were some glorious ones for him, managing to win 20 trophies, an average of two trophies per season.
No other manager has managed to do that in the Premier League: neither Alex Ferguson nor Jurgen Klopp they haven’t collected so many trophies in 10 years. Moreover, if we had to analyze who is the best manager in the modern history of the Premier League, the comparison should be made between five technicians: Pep Guardiola, Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wegner, Jurgen Klopp and Jose Mourinho.
In terms of Premier League trophies, Guardiola took six in 10 years. Ferguson has more: 13, in 21 years. The average is identical: 62% of the titles won by Ferguson, respectively 60% by Pep. However, it is important to note that during Ferguson’s time there was much less competition.
Is money everything?
If we look at the internal competition, Pep dominates authoritatively. In the first 300 matches at Manchester City, he collected 704 points. Mourinho has 636, Klopp 633, Ferguson 627 and Wegner 617. Guardiola’s side have scored 741 times in their first 300 games, more than Klopp, for example, who has 637, the only one whose team has gone over 600 goals.
Here, however, Pep had a major advantage: he spent 1.45 billion euros on transfers, for the first 300 matches. Only Jose Mourinho comes close to this amount: 1.1 billion, but with two teams, Chelsea and Manchester United. Klopp spent 600 million euros, Wenger 250, and Ferguson about 200. However, the discrepancy is reduced if we calculate the amounts related to inflation. Thus, in the money from the Pep period, Ferguson would have spent somewhere around 1.3 billion, and Wegner somewhere around 900 million.
Champions League
Pep Guardiola’s big goal was achieved in 2023 when Manchester City won the Champions League. It was the team’s second final, the first being also under Pep’s command. Of the managers we compared above, only two have won the Champions League with teams from England: Klopp won one final and lost two, all with Liverpool, and Ferguson won two of the four finals played with Manchester United.
However, the best manager of a British Premier League team is the late Bob Paisley, who won the Champions League three times with Liverpool between 1977 and 1981. Only he Ferguson and Brian Clough, who has two trophies with Nittingham Forest, have more than one. Otherwise, whether we’re talking about Pep or Klopp, whether we’re talking about Tuchel, Di Matteo, Rafa Benitez, Joe Fagan, Tony Baryon or Matt Busby, they all have a trophy.
Points per game
Pep Guardiola leaves Manchester City with an average of 2.27 points per game in 592 games. Ferguson has 2.16 in 810 games, Klopp 2.11 in 334 games, Mourinho 2.03 in 363 games and Wenger 1.96 in 828 games.
It is difficult to draw a conclusion, it depends from which perspective we look at the results of the coaches. But it is clear: Pep Guardiola is one of the most important coaches in the history of the Premier League.
