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Gary Lineker played under some great managers during his career, ranging from former England boss Terry Venables to footballing legend Johan Cryuff, but the Match of the Day host has named a different gaffer as the greatest of all time – placing him ahead of Manchester United icon Sir Alex Ferguson.
Fergie is often considered to be football’s greatest ever manager having enjoyed a 27-year reign at Old Trafford which saw him continuously create, dismantle and rebuild title-winning teams, including the United sides which won the Champions League under him in 1999 and 2008.
But speaking on the Match of the Day Top 10 show in 2024, Lineker named a current manager as the best in the sport’s history, citing achievements across different clubs and the widespread adoption of his unique tactical innovations.
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Lineker Names Manager Who Is Better Than Ferguson
He’s a current Premier League boss
Lineker bestowed the honour of being the greatest manager of all time onto Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola. He said to Alan Shearer and Micah Richards:
“People are now copying the inverted full-backs which he invented in Germany, obviously with Philipp Lahm. He’s so innovative. For me he’s the number one of all time, not just now. I’d have him ahead of Fergie. Fergie was tough, and he was hard, and he was brilliant, and he built different teams, and his record is unbelievably good. But did he rethink the game tactically?”
A Difficult Season Doesn’t Undermine Pep’s Legacy
Safe to say, the 2024/25 season hasn’t been kind to Guardiola. Although City could still finish second in the Premier League and win the FA Cup, they are set to end up at least twelve points behind Liverpool, and have suffered 15 defeats across all competitions at the time of writing.
Their performances have been a far cry from the utterly dominant showings we’ve come to expect from City under Guardiola and with Kevin De Bruyne moving on this summer, following Kyle Walker’s mid-season exit on loan, a rebuild looks likely ahead of next season.
But the current campaign remains a rare blemish among an otherwise incredible managerial career for Guardiola, one that has seen him secure trebles at two different clubs – Barcelona and Manchester City – and continually transform the playing style and tactical expectations of every country he’s worked in.
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During his spell at Manchester City alone, Guardiola has completely changed how the role of goalkeeper is perceived in English football, while he also proved that it’s possible to win titles with two creative and one sitting midfielder, inverting the double-pivot which had become the norm for Premier League sides convinced that ‘steel’ was essential in the engine room.
He also won the Premier League without a recognised centre-forward, and then immediately followed that by winning the Premier League with the most typical goalscoring centre-forward around in Erling Haaland.
He’s unquestionably one of the most influential people in football history and next season will be a true test of his credentials. Re-establishing City as a dominant force would be as big an achievement as anything else he’s managed in England.
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