Gary Neville has questioned Ralf Rangnick's decision to take charge of the Austrian national team.
The 63-year-old is set to undertake a consultancy role at Manchester United from July, after his appointment as temporary boss last December. In an announcement confirming the news on Friday lunchtime, Rangnick insisted the Austria job won't impact his role as consultant at United.
Reacting to the news on his own Sky Sports podcast, Neville said: "Manchester United's Sporting Director or consultant can he really be going looking at Austrian players, week in, week out? And then selecting them for the national team?"
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"The Austrian national team has pride, great country and some great players so he'll have to watch players all week then he's going to go and coach them for two weeks in September, October, November and March. So you're saying to yourself what's happening with the Manchester United consultancy advice?
"Where is the priority? There's a conflict there.
Expanding on his thoughts on how the dual role will work for Rangnick Neville added: "I don't see that. I don't see how that can work, you're a national team manager and I've worked under a national team manager, that national team manager has got to present week in, week out, Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday, Tuesday and he can't be here at Old Trafford every week watching an Austrian player play.
"I can't see how that's going to work, if it's something that's true. Maybe (it's a compromise) but it's messy, Manchester United can't afford at this moment to have distractions, can't afford at this moment in time to have a poor communications plan around the idea that Ralf Rangnick's our football consultant but he's seen watching German football three times a month then going coaching the Austrian team two times a month.
"That's not going to work because people are going to say 'hang on, who's in the director's box? What's Darren Fletcher doing? What's John Murtough doing? What's Ralf Rangnick doing wherever he's watching an Austrian player?
"I don't think they can afford that at this moment in time. Laser-focused, clear lines, people staying in their lines understanding what their roles are and actually communicating that to a fan base, this is a real change, this is different than it has been for the last 10 years."
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