Ryan Giggs has all the credentials to successfully manage Manchester United next season, according to his former team-mate Louis Saha.
Giggs has been placed in charge of the team until the end of the season following the sacking of David Moyes.
After last week's 4-0 win over Norwich, there is a growing sense within the United dressing room and among the club's vast fan base that Giggs should be allowed to carry on as manager beyond the summer.
The United board regard Giggs as a potential manager of the future, but they are expected to appoint Louis van Gaal as their next boss instead as he has far more experience.
But Saha, who played alongside Giggs for four years, thinks the Welshman is good enough for the position now.
Speaking at the launch of the Soccerex global convention in Manchester, Saha said: "He can do the job now, for sure.
"It seems like an easy choice for now because he proved he can do it last weekend.
"I was sad to see David Moyes go. But maybe it would have been more clever to give (Giggs) his chance months ago."
Giggs is yet to complete his UEFA Pro License, but Saha thinks that should not prevent the 40-year-old from being a successful manager.
Saha believes Giggs has already gained a wealth of knowledge from the 23 years he spent working under Sir Alex Ferguson.
"The foundations are there (for Giggs to be a success). He was learning from the best," Saha said.
"I could see that in the dressing room. The charisma was there when he was a player. You could feel that straight away.
"He has the right character. He could have a laugh and a joke but he also kept his distance sometimes.
"He has the pedigree and the biggest weapon he has is that he knows exactly what the fans are after - that they want the team to play the United way.
"He was an attacking midfielder so he knows they want to see dribbling and counter-attacking football."
The hallmarks of the 'United way' were present during last week's demolition of Norwich.
And Giggs is doing all he can to make sure there is a repeat performance when United host Sunderland on Saturday afternoon.
It is understood that Giggs has introduced double-training sessions at the AON Training Complex to make sure his players are up to speed for the game.
By the time the next game comes around against Hull on May 6, Van Gaal may have been appointed as Moyes' successor.
The Dutchman is keen to finalise his contract at Old Trafford before he gets his Holland squad together for their training camp on May 7.
United are keen for Giggs to stay at Old Trafford in some capacity, but they will not force the new manager to include the club's record appearance maker among his backroom staff.
Whoever takes charge next year, they will have to do far better than Moyes, who left United seventh in the Barclays Premier League just a year after Ferguson won the title by 11 points.
Saha firmly believes the club will bounce back and start challenging for honours provided the new manager spends big in the transfer window.
"You have to bring players in and if those players are the right ones then they will definitely bring success back to the club," said Saha, who two Premier Leagues, one Champions League and one League Cup during his four-year spell at Old Trafford.
"When we bought Robin van Persie (in 2012) he was a big signing, he lifted the club and he won us the league and this is what one signing can do.
"People talk about money and say this is destroying the game but money talks."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article