Albion boss Roy Hodgson has warned Sir Alex Ferguson could be impossible to replace at Manchester United as he prepared to lock horns with his friend.

The two meet at the Hawthorns on Sunday, as the Baggies take on United in the Premier League opener at the Hawthorns.

And Hodgson, who is a friend and admirer of the Old Trafford boss, believes both he and fellow managerial legend Arsene Wenger will leave daunting challengers for their eventual successors.

The Baggies boss said: “One thing that is absolutely certain is that whoever steps in to Manchester United, and Arsenal for that matter, have got a tremendous job on their hands.

“Because you are taking the place of people who have moulded a club and who have really put their stamp on that club.

“The expectations are going to be so unbelievably high that whoever is following, there’s a good chance, unfortunately, that he is not going to be able to match up to the expectation.”

The Hawthorns head coach is preparing his side to try to topple the champions but, regardless of Sunday’s result, he will remain a huge admirer of Ferguson’s achievements.

Hodgson said: “Sir Alex is a fantastic football man who has a passion for the game which has never waned from the first moment that he was at St Mirren, on to Aberdeen and all these wonderful years at Manchester United.

“But he is also a very wise man. He is able to put football into some sort of perspective and that shines through all the other work that he does at the club. It is not just about building a team and coaching a team, it is about managing an empire.

“He has put the empire together, he’s managed it very well and we are very lucky in the Premier League to have people like Sir Alex Ferguson, and I would put Arsene Wenger in a similar category.

“These are people who are incredible ambassadors for the game of football and they are role models for all the people coming up trying to start careers. There are lots of people coming into the game who need role models like Ferguson and Wenger.

“They have got this drive, they have got an energy, they have got an enthusiasm and of course they’ve got knowledge – and that knowledge is the most important thing.

“It is the thing that makes them what they are, because the other qualities I mentioned, if not common, are ‘findable.’

“But knowledge and wisdom are hard qualities to find. These two have them in spades and of course a lot of it will be down to their experiences which give them this font of knowledge and wisdom.

“So their teams are always going to be hard to beat and they are always going to put good teams together because they know football, they know players, they are leaders and they are wise.

“They have got it all going for them.”

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