Ferguson ended his 26-year tenure with United at the end of the 2012-13 Premier League season, with then-Everton manager David Moyes chosen as his successor.
But just 27 wins in 51 games saw Moyes sacked less than a 12 months into a six-year contract, and Ferguson now says that ex-Barcelona boss Guardiola - and not fellow Scot Moyes - was the first choice for the role.
“I had dinner with Pep Guardiola in New York in 2012, but couldn’t make him any direct proposal because retirement was not on my agenda at that point,” Ferguson said at his book launch on Monday, according to theDaily Telegraph.
“He had already won an enviable number of trophies with Barcelona… and I admired him greatly. I asked Pep to phone me before he accepted an offer from another club, but he didn’t and wound up joining Bayern Munich in July 2013.”
Ferguson said that a host of elite coaches were all considered to succeed him - including current Old Trafford boss Louis van Gaal - but that the timing was not right for most.
"Life is such that the best of theories, or the best of intentions, sometimes don’t translate into practice,” Ferguson said. “Believe me, the United board wanted nothing more than to select a manager who would be with the club for a long time.
“When we started the process of looking for my replacement, we established that several very desirable candidates were unavailable. It became apparent that Jose Mourinho had given his word to Roman Abramovich that he would return to Chelsea, and that Carlo Ancelotti would succeed him at Real Madrid.
“We also knew that Jurgen Klopp was happy at Borussia Dortmund and would be signing a new contract. Meantime, Louis van Gaal had undertaken to lead the Dutch attempt to win the 2014 World Cup.”
United's longest-serving manager said that the process of selecting 52-year-old Moyes was "perfect," even though things did not work out for the now-Real Sociedad coach while he was at Old Trafford.
"Once I'd conveyed it [his decision to retire] to the Glazers, then the process started of looking for successors," Ferguson said, according to the Daily Mail .
"We chose David Moyes. He had been consistent in his job at Everton, had a good spell there - 11 years and showed appetite. No one knew apart from the Glazers, David Gill and myself.
"When we appointed him, the press were enthusiastic for a British manager. Unfortunately, somehow it didn't work out for David. The process was perfect. It was a good process."
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