LONDON • Carlos Queiroz is concerned that his former employers, Manchester United, have moved away from the legacy of Alex Ferguson, the manager whom he served as a trusted assistant between 2002 and 2008.
Now in his fifth year in charge of Iran's national team, the Mozambique-born manager still keeps a close eye on events at Old Trafford.
"The foundation of Manchester United's success was based always on trust, confidence, continuity - the values of the club. I think there have been too many changes that disrupted the continuity and tradition of the club," the 62-year-old, who also had a 10-month spell coaching Spanish giants Real Madrid, told The Guardian.
"There was nothing wrong with building the future based on the principles that were already inside Manchester United created by Alex Ferguson, that was the right direction," he added.
"Okay, I understand that after Alex, the complexity of the transition was not an easy task.
"I have great admiration and respect for Louis (van Gaal) and David (Moyes), they are great coaches that I admire but I think they made some critical and crucial mistakes in the transition from Alex."
For Queiroz, Moyes' decision to change the coaching staff almost immediately after taking charge of the Red Devils in 2013 was a prime example of the errors that have been made.
"It was not necessary to turn everything upside down with the staff with people like Mick Phelan, people that know the insides of the club," said Queiroz. "I learnt with people like Bobby Charlton and Alex this magnificent lesson that you must trust your own people.
"There are no other people in a better position than your own people to know what do to.
"No other people could be better prepared to make the right decisions in terms of continuity… We need to see some leadership."
Despite all the changes, Queiroz is looking to van Gaal to start producing the goods this season.
"I hope and expect this season that Manchester United are able to not only compete, but to win in style because that is what Manchester United is about, winning with style and entertainment," he said.
"A club like Manchester United, with their financial capabilities, the results must be there immediately.
"We also want to see the players shining. Great players like George Best, Scholes, Giggs, Roy Keane, Ruud van Nistlerooy - where are they? Where are the stars of Manchester United?
"It was always about creating players. Now, it is the opposite, we see some of the best players going down and even some of the players that arrived in the team like (Radamel) Falcao and (Angel) di Maria were on the bench.
"I saw di Maria and some games, he looked like he has never played football. There is panic buying.
"You have to prepare and then make the decisions together.
"You can still make wrong decisions but we never made panic decisions when buying players."
THE GUARDIAN
