Jamie Carragher picks who truly has the greater achievements out of Sir Alex Ferguson or Pep Guardiola

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Sir Alex Ferguson and Pep Guardiola are widely considered the two greatest managers the game has ever seen.

Both at Aberdeen and Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson managed to cement his legacy as one of, if not the most influential figure in both footballing institutions’ history.

The same can be said for Pep Guardiola and his respective spells at Barcelona and Manchester City, while at Bayern Munich, he helped the club win the Bundesliga thrice in a row from 2013 until 2016 — a feat the German giants had not accomplished since doing so between 1984 until 1987.

In October, Guardiola claimed that Ferguson is the greatest manager to have ever graced football.

Pep Guardiola stated via BeanymanSports: “I think in that country [England], in all around the world, Sir Alex Ferguson is the best, for the time, for the changing teams and look, he can win trophies so being close to one of the most important managers of all time is not enough, it’s more than enough.”

Unsurprisingly, the Manchester United and Manchester City legends will always be compared to each other.

Jamie Carragher says Pep Guardiola’s achievements are better than Sir Alex Ferguson’s

However, Jamie Carragher believes Pep Guardiola’s achievements are superior to that of Sir Alex Ferguson.

Carragher initially said on The Overlap’s Stick To Football live show: “The one thing Pep [Guardiola] has never done is won with an underdog with Sir Alex Ferguson did at Aberdeen so that makes it so close.”

“But you think of when Sir Alex came in at Man United and obviously, I understand it was a big club to turn around but more often than not, managers go into clubs at that certain stage and it’s not going well and it took a while, didn’t it?”

Jamie Carragher gave Pep Guardiola immense credit for rarely ever struggling to dominate in his career, after he pointed out that Sir Alex Ferguson won his first league title at Manchester United in 1993, despite heading to Old Trafford in 1986.

“You look at his first title win whereas Pep’s gone in and I actually think this is the first time Pep’s looked like every other manager. And it’s only across, like the last six weeks. In the first time in, how long has he been managing, 15 years?”

“Every manager must go through that thing where they think, what am I going to do, everything I try doesn’t work. Everything he tries has worked, whether it’s putting full-backs in there [midfield], playing a false nine, putting a centre-back into midfield and then everyone follows that.”

Jamie Carragher also pinpointed how Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona side managed to defeat Sir Alex Ferguson’s legendary Manchester United teams in two Champions League finals in 2009 and 2011.

“Listen, I think it’s very close, it’s very difficult to pick. The only thing I would say is when Sir Alex Ferguson had his best-ever team at United, probably when they got to three European Cup finals in four years, he faced Pep twice, didn’t he and Barcelona come out well worthy.”

Ian Wright explains why Ferguson’s achievements are superior to Guardiola

However, Ian Wright claimed that Sir Alex Ferguson walked into teams such as Aberdeen and Manchester United, who were far from tailor-made to win and yet, managed to turn them into winners; the key reason why he feels his accomplishments are greater than Pep Guardiola’s.

“When you look at when Sir Alex came in after leading Aberdeen, I think since ’84-85, they’re the only team outside Rangers and Celtic to win the Scottish championship and that was Sir Alex.”

“When he came to United, we’re not talking the same landscape as Pep’s [Guardiola] got. Everything was laid out, ready to go for Pep and I’m not knocking Pep in respects of his tactical acumen and how great he is as a coach and how he’s changed football.”

However, Ian Wright gave Pep Guardiola massive credit for his impact on the game as a whole.

“I’m watching school games and kids are playing out the back, moving, he’s changed the whole course of how things are going in respects to football but when you look at Sir Alex and what he did at United and how United went on to be so dominant and built what he’s built, I probably would always go with Sir Alex.”

“Pep for years to come, probably. You probably have to respect Pep and the way he’s changed the way people play football but in respects of a manager and what he’s done in that time to this, it’s probably Sir Alex.”

Ultimately, such debates between footballing greats come down to preference.