Paul Scholes watched Manchester United be knocked out of the Champions League last-16 by Atletico Madrid, before declaring that Ralf Rangnick was not the manager to take the club forward next season and insisting the Red Devils should be able to poach anybody they wanted from other clubs.
A solitary headed effort from Renan Lodi in the first half was enough to send Atleti through and leave United without silverware for another campaign, with interim boss Rangnick far from certain to guide United back into the competition for next season.
They sit fifth in the Premier League table at present, having played three matches more than fourth-placed Arsenal.
Scholes, who claimed United “would have gone through” if Atletico manager Diego Simeone was in the other dugout, was critical of Rangnick’s impact and was assertive in his view that there was no end in sight to a difficult recent time for a club which previously knew only success during his own playing days.
“How he was chosen to be manager of this club, I don’t know,” Scholes said.
“We have had a lot of pain and I think there is more to come until we get back to where we want to be.
“I keep saying it, I don’t like to talk about people behind the scenes but until we get a proper, a top-class, elite coach from another football club that wins trophies and strikes fear into players...[United won’t return to the top].”
Scholes, along with his fellow pundits and ex-United players Rio Ferdinand and Owen Hargreaves, repeated his feeling that there was enough underlying quality in the squad at Old Trafford to be capable of being closer to winning trophies.
But key to extracting the best from them was to find the right manager to lead the way - yet according to Scholes, if anything United seem to be getting even further from that eventuality.
“Getting a proper coach for this team is a massive thing. There is some real talent in this squad.
“The very first thing this club needs to do to get anywhere near winning the league again is getting in a proper coach who works for this team.
“There’s no sign of United even getting close to [challenging for the title]. It feels like we’re going in the opposite direction.”
Sitting alongside his former teammate, Ferdinand added that the example of United’s rivals Liverpool showed it would take time for success to follow, even if the next managerial appointment proved to be spot on.
“[Jurgen] Klopp took four or so years to win the Premier League but you could see on the trajectory there was an improvement and you could see ‘we’re backing the right horse here’.
“Man United have to get to that point. Once you get the manager, the right person in place, then you’re talking a minimum two or three years before you can think about challenging.”
Ferdinand also disagreed with Scholes that United could appoint any manager from another club they wanted.
Mauricio Pochettino and Erik ten Hag have both been heavily linked with the post this summer - but both also exited the Champions League at the last-16 stage over the past week, PSG losing to Real Madrid in dramatic fashion before Ajax lost on home soil to Benfica at the same time as United were suffering their own disappointment against Atletico.
