Pep Guardiola – A Possible Replacement For Louis Van Gaal
On the verge of his retirement, Sir Alex Ferguson, recommended former Everton manager, a fellow scot, to take up the reins at Old Trafford, but David Moyes left Manchester United far worse than he met them. Several negative records were broken within the single year that Moyes used at Old Trafford and just few matches to the end of the season, the management decided that they had seen enough and showed him the door.
Although Sir Alex had hinted on Moyes being his successor few years before he actually recommended him, many pundits believed that the Manchester giants should have gone for former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola, but even when Moyes was booted out having failed to secure a champions league spot, it was Louis van Gaal, one of the most experienced managers around that got the job.
Louis van Gaal came in on a very high note having just won a third place medal at the recently concluded World Cup in Brazil. Despite the fact that the Dutchman exclaimed when he discovered that Manchester United were in a deeper hole than he first imagined due to incessant injury worries, van Gaal’s tactical nous have proved advantageous for the Reds devils having wriggled back into the top four slot for the first time since Sir Alex Ferguson. It is uncertain how long the Louis van Gaal jolly train will last at Old Trafford but if he ever gets the boot, Manchester United can look towards Pep Guardiola for managerial expertise as the Spaniard had once expressed interest in handling the Old Trafford outfit, and yes, you don’t have to take my word for it but here is what Spanish journalist Marti Pararnau states:
‘The day after beating Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final, Guardiola and Estiarte travelled to Manchester to watch their next opponent in action. It was May 4, 2011, and the pair sat together in the stands of Old Trafford watching Sir Alex Fergusson’s team beat Schalke04 4-1. Once again Pep had turned to his friend and said: ‘I like this atmosphere. I could see myself coaching here one day’
Last year a David Moyes tutored Manchester United squad lost out to Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich and ordinarily, you’d have felt Manchester United will attempt to hire him, but it’s all well and good since manager Louis van Gaal has been doing such a nice job. Yet Pep is young and Manchester United should still keep tabs on him.