'People said his style wouldn't work here'
[BBC] [Getty Images] This is the moment Manchester City have been dreading, but the whole of English football is going to miss Pep Guardiola too. He's a true legend of the game, and I am gutted he is going - the Premier League just won't be the same without him. Pep is one of the best managers we've ever seen.
The greatest ever? Well, it's hard to disrespect Sir Alex Ferguson when you have that conversation, but those were different times - Pep's the greatest manager of the modern era, that's for sure. When he replaced Manuel Pellegrini in 2016, City already had some very good players so he was not starting from scratch, but he did not just go on to dominate English football for a decade, he changed it too.
Now everyone plays the way City do, passing out from the back. That didn't happen before he arrived. Pep's never been afraid to move people around either.
He sees the player, not the position, I guess, and makes them an important part of his system and style, in the way he wants to use them. When it works it is incredible. Like the 2023 Champions League final when City beat Inter Milan in arguably the biggest game in the club's history, and he had a centre-half - John Stones - essentially playing in midfield.
He sees things like that which other managers would never even think of trying. Things that don't appear obvious to us, are to him. And he has done it consistently over the years.