Soccer

PEP GUARDIOLA was certain about Manchester City’s future when he was quizzed about it last week.He said that everything was in place for the incredible success story under him to continue long after he was gone.Man City must be prepared for Pep Guardiola’s exit and not make the same mistakes as Man UtdCredit: GettyThe Red Devils have failed to recover ever since Sir Alex Ferguson leftCredit: PA:Press AssociationBecause have no doubt about it, Guardiola could be gone at the end of this season.Already he has stayed at the Etihad longer than people thought he might and there is nothing else to prove, nothing more to achieve.But the belief that things will just continue when he goes could well be misplaced.Let us not forget that it may be no small coincidence that director of football Txiki Begiristain, 60, has already stated that he is definitely on his way next summer.READ MORE IN FOOTBALLThis is not even taking into account what punishment may come the Manchester club’s way due to the charges of 130 financial rule breaches that are on their doorstep.Although I have my doubts anything will ever come of that.There are haunting parallels for City supporters over what has happened down the road when an era came to an end.There was a similar arrogance at Old Trafford that things would just continue because, well, they were Manchester United.Most read in FootballFOOTBALL FREE BETS AND SIGN UP DEALSSenior figures would scoff at the suggestion that with Sir Alex gone they might now do a Liverpool and take decades to regain their place on their perch.Now, with already 11 years gone they remain further away than ever.Sir Alex Ferguson phoned and tried to convince me to join Man Utd – but their transfer plan made me say noThat belief that it would just continue saw the Red Devils take their eye off the ball.When Sir Alex went in 2013, the United that was so dominant went with him. Now, titles were won at City before Guardiola under Roberto Mancini in 2012 and two years later when Manuel Pellegrini was boss.But the startling dominance that the club has achieved under this manager since 2016 sets him apart.Have no doubt it is down to him, nobody else, just him.His energy to continue getting the best out of players is remarkable and continues unabated.Not only does he, with Begiristain, source and buy great players he makes them better.Txiki Begiristain’s exit is already set to shake things up massively at CityCredit: GettyThe future of star man Erling Haaland remains unclearCredit: AlamyHis standards never drop. You just have to watch the Spaniard on the sidelines.But that level of intensity can wear anyone down.Even at Bayern Munich they claimed everyone was basically frazzled after his time there.The man himself will need a rest and maybe the club and players too.You look at this team, much like United of old, and there are certain players that simply cannot be replaced like for like.Star midfielder Kevin De Bruyne, 33, is unlikely to still be at the club beyond this season.The incredible Kyle Walker at 34 cannot continue rampaging up and down that wing.FUTURE QUESTIONSErling Haaland is only 24 but there has been no secret about his desire to one day end up at Real Madrid.Guardiola has turned John Stones from an average centre-back into one of the best players in Europe but he is already 30.There is still much more to come from Rodri who is 28 but how will this ACL injury impact him going forward?In any case how can you guarantee that he and these City players will react in the same way to a new boss when 53-year-old Guardiola does go?Down the road, when Sir Alex went it was like the tough head-master had gone and a young supply teacher was in.Remember that, at school, when everyone just took the mick. That’s what happened at United.Everything had been achieved, the team was coming to an end and basically nobody could be bothered anymore, everyone was knackered with it all.Fergie axe comes at the right time – and he knows itBy Phil ThomasIT is over a decade since he left the dugout but Sir Alex Ferguson has lost none of his sense of timing.When to sell, when to buy, when to change and ultimately when to go, Fergie has always been in a class of his own.Over the years there were countless decisions which had everyone scratching their head — but Sir Alex always knew the time was right.Some were more obvious than others. Like the night Manchester United won the Treble on the back of his substitutions.Others less so, like the summer of 1995 when terrace legends Mark Hughes, Paul Ince and Andrei  Kanchelskis were sold at the peak of their powers.The whole of football thought the manager had lost his marbles.But Fergie knew better, as he chose that year to unleash his “you win nothing with kids” Double heroes.Just as he knew best when it came to right-hand men.Brian Kidd, Steve McClaren, Archie Knox and Co — an endless list of world-class coaches who all came and went.And, of course, the biggest decision of all. Calling time on 26 years in which he had gone from the brink of the bullet to English football’s greatest-ever gaffer.The majority of people are convinced Ferguson stepped down because he knew United’s era of dominance was over.Maybe not the nosedive to come but certainly that an almighty rebuild was just around the corner. Another mass overhaul, yet not one he was prepared to oversee.Now another end has arrived. Not as dramatic or as out-of-nowhere, admittedly, but an end nonetheless.Next summer Fergie will leave his 12-year role as global ambassador. Many see it as the most ruthless swing of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s cost-cutting axe — and they are wrong.For while he is trying to save every penny in making United great again —  how’s that going, Sir Jim? — Ferguson has not suddenly and callously been told he is surplus to requirements.This decision was a two-way call. An amicable parting. Football’s own conscious uncoupling, in Chris  Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow lingo.And not, incidentally, a departure which means we will no longer see Fergie at Old Trafford on a matchday.That  simply  will  not  happen.   He  will still be there rain, wind or shine . . .Only now as a high-profile non-executive director, rather than a man with the ear — and the sway — behind the owners’ biggest decisions.Like he was when urging United to re-sign Cristiano Ronaldo in 2021.Admittedly not his finest hour, rather an indication of the influence he still retained.Back then, until just before  Ratcliffe and his Ineos team arrived, in fact, Ferguson had the owners’ ear. Almost a hotline to the Glazer family, you could say.And those days are done.Not that Sir Alex is bereft at the thought. For a start, some of the staff sackings have enraged the Scot — long-serving photographer John Peters and kitman Alec Wylie, for example.This is not a cosy-cosy relationship with Ratcliffe being severed.If anything, it is closer to the opposite. And as Fergie the Red, in every sense The Boss — those who played under him still call him that  — knows, trousering £2million or so a year in such tight times is not a good look.Fair enough, not an amount anyone would turn down in normal circumstances.Yet when many in the steerage class are losing their livelihoods, it is not something that would have sat well with him.There is also the practical side of things as well.At the end of December, Sir Alex will be 83 years old, albeit still a freakishly fit 83 years old.Yet even though the grey matter remains oh-so-sharp and the mind clear as a bell, the bones grow creakier and even Superman had to put his feet up on occasion.That does not mean you will not see shots of Fergie alongside Ratcliffe at various points — Sir Jim loves too much the associated glamour of being pictured with the greatest.But any idea of Sir Alex having an emperor’s thumbs-down power has gone for good — and quite frankly that is something which suits both sides.The fans, meanwhile, had grown so used to success that it was basically expected.Sir Alex was frustrated in the belief that people thought silverware just kept arriving without any work going into it.He didn’t like how the atmosphere could dip because people just sat back and waited for the win rather than roared their team on.Last weekend when City beat Southampton 1-0, friends of mine described the spectacle as “boring”.Another said that the team had “lost it’s fizz”. Have they too become complacent?City could easily lose it’s fizz without Guardiola because there is no obvious candidate to take up the reins.There are plenty of clubs snapping at their heels as well. Liverpool and Arsenal will not go away, Chelsea for all the apparent chaos at Stamford Bridge will always be there.READ MORE SUN STORIESTottenham might have their day and just look at what Unai Emery is doing at Aston Villa.As City’s less than noisy neighbours will tell you, nothing is a given. More