Steve Bruce has recalled the experience of discovering that the genius of Pep Guardiola's ideas could be found in their simplicity.
The two former Premier League managers faced off against each other five times during their long-serving careers.
Manager of Newcastle United F.C. Steve Bruce (L) talk with Manager of Manchester City FC Pep Guardiola during the cocktail reception to celebrate the Premier League Asia Trophy, the youth tournament and showcase the wider football development work in China. during the Premier League Asia Trophy on July 19, 2019 in Shanghai, China3
Manager of Newcastle United F.C. Steve Bruce (L) talk with Manager of Manchester City FC Pep Guardiola during the cocktail reception to celebrate the Premier League Asia Trophy, the youth tournament and showcase the wider football development work in China. during the Premier League Asia Trophy on July 19, 2019 in Shanghai, China
Serial winner Guardiola had the better of the head-to-head, having won four and drawn the other meeting with ex-Newcastle boss Bruce.
However, the latter had clearly made an impression, with Guardiola saying of his fellow head coach in 2021: “He is an exceptional gentleman who always took care of me so nicely when I came from Catalonia, a different country.”
The admiration clearly goes both ways, with Bruce keen to pick the Manchester City icon's brain days into his appointment at Newcastle.
Why Guardiola inverted his full-backs
Bruce told talkSPORT.com as perFree Bets: "I remember having a cup of tea with him in China when I just took over Newcastle.
"I was quizzing him about where he came up with the idea of inverted full-backs, and why his full-backs were inside the pitch.
"Where did he think of that? And basically it was so simple the way he said to me, 'Steve, I wanted that because I wanted my attacking players to be high up the pitch rather than my full-backs.'
"So it really was so simple and yet I thought, 'Wow, everybody's looking at why he's got inverted full-backs and why they're inside the pitch.'"
Inverting his full-backs was just one of the ways Guardiola reinvented Premier League tactics, having converted midfielders Oleksandr Zinchenko and Fabian Delph into left-backs.
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The Spaniard went on to amass 20 trophies, including six Premier League titles and an historic treble during his decade at Man City.
Manager of Manchester City FC Pep Guardiola, Nuno Espirito Santo, Manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers, head coach Manuel Pellegrini of West Ham United and Manager of Newcastle United F.C. Steve Bruce attends cocktail reception to celebrate the Premier League Asia Trophy3
Bruce was keen to know the lore behind Guardiola and inverted full-backs
Guardiola 'has been absolutely breathtaking'
"Look, we're gonna miss him, aren't we, that's for sure," Bruce added of the ex-Barcelona and Bayern Munich gaffer to talkSPORT.
"He has been absolutely breathtaking for the Premier League. When I look at all the modern-day coaches or the way football is, it's all the Pep way.
"You see so many of the young coaches in the City group. That's all led with really the infrastructure of Man City, the way it's been run, the people at the top who obviously got to employ Pep and then implement - Pep - exactly what he wanted.
"He made big decisions very, very early. Joe Hart, for example, was England's goalkeeper, and because he thought he wasn't it, wasn't good enough maybe with his feet, he changed it around.
"You go [Alex] Ferguson at the top of course, and then you go [Jurgen] Klopp, and you go Pep, and these are absolutely wonderful managers, which all of us look to and could only learn from."
Pep Guardiola at his Manchester City farewell3
'We cannot replace him'Credit: Getty
Bruce, meanwhile, who is a talkSPORT regular, was last in the dugout in October 2025 when he was sacked by League One Blackpool.
The 65-year-old, who has beentipped for a return at the top level,admitted he still misses management every day.