Former United defender Gary Neville believes the Red Devils should try to bring in Mauricio Pochettino as Jose Mourinho's replacement, describing the Argentinean as the "ideal candidate".
Mourinho's tenure at the club came to an end this morning after the Premier League club announced the 55-year-old has left his position with immediate effect.
United are sixth in the league table, 19 points adrift of bitter rivals Liverpool, whose 3-1 win turned out to be his last match in charge.
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Neville believes the Spurs manager is the best qualified candidate to succeed Mourinho.
"I said last season that the next manager of Manchester United should be Mauricio Pochettino," he told Sky Sports News.
"When I look at the values of Manchester United, you look at Mauricio Pochettino's belief in young players at Southampton and with Tottenham. You look at his performance levels and the style of play, the way in which he carries himself at all times, publicly and in private.
"I've been fortunate enough to spend two or three days at Tottenham's training ground and to me he just feels like the most ideal candidate."
"Manchester United have tried managers that have won European Cups, they've tried managers that have won multiple leagues, they've tried managers that have, to be fair, had that solid grounding in the Premier League," Neville said.
"I do think he is the person who is the outstanding candidate"
"They need someone who meets the three key principals of that football club: the promotion of youth, entertaining football and to win football matches.
"People suggest he hasn't won a trophy yet at Tottenham but with a net spend of minus £29m or something over the last four years, I'm not sure he could have done more.
"I do think he is the person who is the outstanding candidate."
The eight-time Premier League winner added: "I think the moment earlier on in the season where it was clear that the board had decided that they didn’t want to back a couple of Jose Mourinho signings…to be honest at that point you are finished as a manager.
"Manchester United have been crawling along on their hands on knees for the last few months"
"From a club point of view, they gave him a new contract last January. In the summer Jose wanted to but a couple of centre-backs. They were identified.
"The club has the right to say no to those signings if they don’t feel it’s right, but you have to understand the consequences that once you undermine the manager, or don’t agree with his signings, maybe for the right reasons from the club’s point of view, but you are on a collision course.
"What we have seen for the last three or four months is it play out in public.
"Manchester United have been crawling along on their hands on knees for the last few months. It has been unpleasant unsavoury. You can see on the pitch it is impacting the players.
"The sacking of Jose Mourinho is as a result of what happened last summer."
Neville went on to add that it could be a defining moment for the club.
"My personal view is that the club needs to reset," Neville said.
"This is not just a moment to sack Jose Mourinho and appoint another manager, this is a moment for the club to take stock of what they're doing, to reset the structure in terms of recruitment, in terms of the decision making in the football club and make sure what they do next is the right move
"That's not about speed, that's about making sure the next manager is the right manager. The reality of that is that they're going to have to put the right football structure in around him.
"They see it as a positive that they've got 65 scouts, I see it as confusion, particularly if you've not got what would be a definitive individual who has a level of control.
"They've got to reset the football structure within the club, they've got to put more intelligent people in there who understand the football side of things and not just hide behind the manager. They have to look at themselves as well and make sure there is a change."
" Caption This "
— Gary Neville (@GNev2) December 18, 2018
You do one as well !
Neville also responded to Paul Pogba's deleted social media posts which came minutes after Mourinho had parted company with the club.
United midfielder Pogba had posted a photo of himself to Instagram and Twitter looking at the camera with the words: "Caption this!", before
swiftly deleting it.
That prompted Neville to tweet: "'Caption This"' You do one as well!"
