Is Pep Guardiola the greatest football manager of all time?

Barcelona. Bayern Munich. Manchester City. With successful stints at three of Europe's biggest clubs and a remarkable ability to work closely with some of the world's best players, Pep Guardiola's impact on football cannot be overstated. His tactical brilliance and relentless pursuit of excellence have not only led to numerous honours for his teams but have also inspired and influenced other coaches around the continent.

Guardiola's journey as a manager began after retiring as a player for his boyhood club, Barcelona, in 2006. Just a year later, he took up a coaching role at Barcelona's famous La Masia Academy, quickly making a name for himself as a youth coach by achieving promotion in his only season in charge. In May 2008, Barça president Joan Laporta announced that the first team coach at the time, Frank Rijkaard, would be departing and Guardiola would take his place.

There was downplayed excitement at his appointment, but no one could really foresee the success that would follow. A perfect storm of not only Pep’s tactical brilliance, and inheriting one of the best developing squads the game has ever seen, brought unprecedented glory. His squad contained some of the most talented names to play in the modern era, including Lionel Messi, Carles Puyol, David Villa, and the famous midfield trio of Xavi, Iniesta and Sergio Busquets.

In his first season as the first team coach, Guardiola led Barcelona to an unprecedented treble and a total of six trophies in 2009. Over the next four seasons, he accumulated 14 trophies, with his team's ‘take the ball, pass the ball’ philosophy being perfectly encapsulated in the 2011 Champions League final at Wembley stadium. The performance that year against Manchester United is widely