Former Sheffield United and Middlesbrough manager Neil Warnock believes it will "take at least three years" for Manchester United to get back on track and correct their recent wrongs.
The Championship promotion-winning expert, who officially retired from management in April, has made the admission following United assistant manager Steve McClaren's confession about being ready to face the chaotic situation the club currently finds itself in. The former England manager, alongside new United manager Erik ten Hag, will get to work on Monday, starting their attempt to try and transform the club's fortunes.
United, despite spending north of £120million on the additions of Raphael Varane, Jadon Sancho and Cristiano Ronaldo last summer, finished sixth in the Premier League table last term, ending the campaign with a goal difference of zero. It was a disastrous campaign and pressure is now on Ten Hag to transform their fortunes.
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However, the Dutchman has not arrived at Old Trafford equipped with a magic wand, meaning plenty of hard work needs to be done before United can consider themselves ready to challenge for silverware regularly again. And for Warnock, it will take a minimum of three years for things to significantly improve.
Warnock posted on Twitter: "It's going to take at least three years for Man United to sort out the chaos Steve McClaren talks about at the club, what a mess it sounds like there. Lack of leadership for a decade.
"Crazy, really, that one of the biggest clubs in the world can get it so wrong for so long now."
Speaking on The McClaren Performance Podcast, McClaren said: "When I first went to Manchester United [in 1999], there was hardly any rules.
"But what they did, they did the right things and if they didn't do the right things they owned it and they suffered the consequences and accepted the consequences — and if you have those non-negotiables around then you can’t go wrong.
"Culture is all about people and we can all have these 'big hairy goals' and sayings written on the walls but it is about people and getting the right people who buy in and have character."
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