David Moyes reveals what he was reluctant to say about Man United after replacing Sir Alex Ferguson

But Moyes endured a wretched time at United, with the 61-year-old lasting just 10 months before being relieved of his duties.

It's an open secret that he missed out on big players such as Cesc Fabregas, Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo upon taking over.

And Moyes, speaking on Sky Sports' Stick to Football podcast, has admitted he knew it would take time to improve United.

Though the club had won the Premier League title before his arrival, many experienced heads - such as Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra and Wayne Rooney - were starting to show signs of waning.

Moyes said: "I had a feeling that it was going to take a long time to fix [Manchester United] but I couldn’t come out and say that it’s going to take six years to fix.

"The team had just won the Premier League, and I was thrilled to be taking over, thinking this is great, but it was also a team that was on the verge of having to change around.

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"The players had a great loyalty to Sir Alex Ferguson, no matter who you had coming in, which is amicable, but I did feel like it was going to take a longer time to change things around.

"I had a great relationship with Sir Alex and David Gill – we’d meet once a month for dinner and talk about things.

"I hear people talk a lot about Manchester United and think to myself, Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho would arguably be right up there in the top dozen managers worldwide who you’d want to be manager of your team, and they found it impossible to get what they want.

"It might run deeper than that [the issues at Manchester United]."

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United have gone through four other permanent managers since Moyes' dismissal.

Louis van Gaal arrived as his replacement in 2014 but was relieved of his duties two years later, despite winning the FA Cup.

Jose Mourinho touched down in 2016 and immediately won two trophies. However, he was cut loose in December 2018 after falling out with a host of big players - with Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial among them.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer initially replaced Mourinho on an interim basis but, after a brilliant stint, was given the job permanently in March 2019.

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However, he was axed two-and-a-half years later after failing to win a trophy.

And Erik ten Hag was recently the latest manager to be dismissed, with Ruben Amorim confirmed as his replacement.

Moyes, however, has no regrets about his time at United.

"The biggest thing they were saying then was that if I didn’t qualify for the Champions League, I’d lose my job at Manchester United," he continued.

"You think of that nowadays, that wouldn’t be the standard set now, the standard has dropped.

"I have no regrets, I learnt so much from the players, the level of fight they gave you – the dressing room was tough, and they called each other out, there was no messing around in the months I was there.

"I admired them greatly and could see why they’d been at the top but there was a diminishing level of quality and age.

"They had a toughness and ability to dig each other out, which is lacking greatly in the modern game."