Absolutely. Sir Alex was a title winning machine but he also had that ability to build, rebuild and develop from the ground up. He was a true manager of the football club which is why comparing the likes of him and Shankly, Busby etc to today's "coaches" is pointless given the greater responsibilities the older chaps had. To put it in context, Sir Alex achieved the impossible at Aberdeen breaking the old firm rivalry and winning a European cup, and basically re-created one of footballs elite clubs. He had to mould the culture at Manchester United not only develop the football team. That's very very different to an also impressive achievement of walking into a messed up dressing room of players at Barcelona that was severely underperforming but was undoubtedly brimming with top class ability that was if managed very well, ready to challenge for everything, and had arguably the greatest football of all time coming up. While what Pep did was brilliant and people sometimes don't give him enough credit for it, it's nowhere near the same as waking up a sleeping giant and then dominating. Sir Alex also was with United through the few tough times we had. In 2003 when arsenal and Chelsea started taking over, we looked like we were mostly in Chelsea's shadow as a financial power. Now, SAF did spend of course, but much of our rise in 2006-07 had to do with the great man developing footballers rather than just being able to spunk silly money. Rooney was expensive but the likes of Park, Vidic, Evra, VDS etc were all smart buys and combined with top class management we won 5 titles in 7 years. For me, Sir Alex had a bit of Pep (trophy winning machine) and a bit of Klopp/Simeone (ability to defy odds, deal with difficult situations and win with not so great players). As great as Peps achievements are, winning league titles with Bayern where it's criminal not to do so and City where he's spent a billion on defenders at will, aren't special achievements worth their weight in gold.
Ultimately, Pep may have what some people consider the perfect managerial career. And to each their own. But I think the romantic in me will always have a bigger place for a variety of achievements and winning while always having the best whilst is the sign of a top manager, does have a slight blot against it.
