DANNY MURPHY: I was in awe of Sir Alex Ferguson – but Pep Guardiola is better than him

Sir Alex Ferguson was the ultimate boss. Everyone wanted to emulate their Manchester United team, including us at Liverpool.

He had a presence and charisma, confidence and authority that completely rubbed off on his players. It was always a challenge to match their level.

Fergie's greatest strength was motivating these great players to stay hungry all the time. Maintaining standards season after season separated United from the rest, and we all knew about his ruthlessness too.

Whether it was Paul Ince, David Beckham or Roy Keane, as soon as the manager thought it best for them to leave, that's what happened. And he has just built another monster of a team at Old Trafford.

I never dreamed that we would find another manager who would become close to Fergie, let alone become even more influential.

When Pep Guardiola struggled in his first season at City, I thought the intensity of English football would prevent him from repeating his success at Barcelona. But I was wrong. Not only has he won many trophies, but he has had an impact on the entire national game like no other.

Guardiola shares Fergie's qualities when it comes to people management and making big decisions. He took out Joe Hart and Joao Cancelo and rebuilt a great team after Vincent Kompany, David Silva and Sergio Aguero parted ways.

But more than Fergie, he changed our sport. It's not just other Premier League teams building from defence, pressing to win back and using tactical innovations such as false nines and inverted full-backs – they're doing it in Leagues One and League Two and even at grassroots level.

For the past five years I have been providing coaching sessions and assisting at matches in Surrey's youth leagues.

I have seen first-hand children as young as 11 being encouraged to express themselves by taking the ball and trying to build play.

My own football education at that age was very much about winning and while that should still be an important aspect, thanks to Guardiola we are seeing progress.

I was fortunate that as an apprentice at Crewe there was more emphasis on tactics than elsewhere. But if I had seen a full-back being asked to move into midfield during a youth match ten years ago, I wouldn't have believed it.

The Pep philosophy has spread to so many parts of the game.

Fans now want entertainment for their expensive ticket price. Winning with 30 percent possession is no longer good enough as Guardiola has shown that you can both play good football and win. Spurs supporters thought Jose Mourinho was too pragmatic, they prefer Angeball, who is more forward-looking. At Leicester, Steve Cooper has just been sacked, even though his team wasn't in the bottom three. The supporters found his style too restrictive.

Other club owners want their own Pep to be in charge. I doubt Arsenal would have taken the risk of giving Mikel Arteta a first managerial job unless he had worked with Guardiola at City. You could say the same about Leicester if they had gone for Enzo Maresca, unless they thought some of the Pep stardust had rubbed off on him.

No one should lose sight of the fact that young players still need to be able to make their own decisions on the field. We must not forget that if Guardiola himself feels that his team is under pressure, Ederson has permission to play a long ball to Haaland to get out of trouble. But the influence of allowing players to be footballers in any position is excessive.

If I'm honest, I never thought Pep would have as much of an impact as he has. His record is incredible. He is only 53, but has won twelve league titles in three countries and three Champions Leagues.

In England he became the only manager to reach 100 points, and the following season won a domestic clean sweep. He equaled Fergie's best achievement, the Treble, in 2023.

Now all eyes are on Guardiola as he heads to Anfield after the worst run of his career – five defeats and a draw in six games.

I have a feeling it will only inspire him to do better and create something special again. I believe he will find a way. He always does that.