Ferguson has recalled a dinner with Guardiola in his new memoir, Games of My Life, explaining that he hoped the future Manchester City manager could eventually take charge at Old Trafford.
The meeting took place while Guardiola was still Barcelona coach. Ferguson was considering his own future at Manchester United and wanted to convince the Spaniard that Manchester should be his next destination.
“If I could turn back time, we would have had dinner a few months earlier,” Ferguson writes.
“I would have poured a generous amount of Tignanello and done my utmost to convince him that his future was in Manchester. Which, unfortunately for us, it also was.”
Guardiola ultimately chose a different route. After leaving Barcelona, he moved to Bayern Munich in 2013, where he spent three seasons before joining Manchester City in 2016.
Ferguson explained that Guardiola had already decided he wanted to test himself in Germany after his extraordinary spell at Barcelona.
“At that point, I had not completely decided to retire. And Pep was convinced that, after achieving enormous success in La Liga in just four years, with a continental treble and a league and Champions League double, he wanted to try life in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich,” Ferguson writes.
The irony was that Guardiola did eventually move to Manchester, but to United's local rivals.
At City, he went on to win multiple Premier League titles and the Champions League, establishing himself as one of the most successful managers in the club's history.
Ferguson eventually retired from Manchester United in 2013 after 26 years in charge, with David Moyes appointed as his successor.
Guardiola's decision meant United missed the opportunity to appoint a manager Ferguson clearly regarded as capable of continuing his work.
The Spaniard instead built his own legacy at City, winning six Premier League titles and the Champions League during his tenure.
Ferguson's recollection offers a striking alternative history for Manchester United: had their 2012 dinner happened earlier, Guardiola might have arrived at Old Trafford rather than becoming the architect of City's most successful era.