PEP Guardiola is not a name commonly linked with a League One club like Bury, but his arrival in Manchester this summer is getting everybody at Gigg Lane excited.

The Shakers have been building up a strong relationship with neighbours Manchester City over the past year, leasing players and property off their new dear friends.

Bury moved into the Blues’ old training complex at Carrington last March and recently loaned young goalkeeping starlet Ian Lawlor until the end of the season.

And manager David Flitcroft is hoping this new budding relationship will continue to flourish when the current Bayern Munich boss takes over the reins at City come the end of the campaign.

“I’m buzzing that he’s coming to this country and we are going to get so much exposure and hopefully find out a little bit more about him and what he does and how he does things,” Flitcroft said.

“Hopefully, having Carrington and the relationship we have been building with Manchester City through Ian Lawlor, we will get a chance to go over and see and get an insight into it a little bit.

“Obviously, there is an excitement from myself and my coaching staff. We made sure with the Ian Lawlor deal that we cross-referenced everything.

“We have been giving them the stats, we give them the details, we give them the analyst’s work because Ian is one of their players and it’s important how his development progresses.

“I’m delighted that he’s over and if we can get a bit of an insight to see how he does things and what he does then I’ll be a lucky man.”

The Shakers boss holds the former Barcelona manager in the highest regard and believes there has never been a better team than the one Guardiola built at Camp Nou. Flitcroft also praised the versatility of the Bayern manager, who he says can completely muddle the mind of opposition coaches.

“He’s the best coach in the world,” he said.

“You identify instantly when you mention the word, there’s an aura around him.

“For me personally, the Barcelona team that he built – Iniesta, Xavi, Busquets, Mascherano, Messi – looking at that team and the football they played for two years was just on a different level to what has been in the past, it was a level that we had never seen before. I also think it messes with your head as a coach because you are watching the best players in the world, and the intensity that he works at, he needed that year off.

“You could see what he was building towards.

“He chose the right club in Bayern, a club on the up and players on the up and quite a young and dynamic squad.

“You see what he has done with them, it’s a different style of football because Barcelona with Pep attacked through the centre of the pitch but Bayern go wider and attack wider.”