Paul Scholes believes Manchester United is ‘a mess’ with a ‘poisonous’ dressing room

Paul Scholes has described the situation at Manchester United as ‘a mess’ and ‘poisonous’ as he questioned the club’s decision to install Ralf Rangnick as interim manager.

Scholes believes United should have moved for Antonio Conte before he joined Tottenham or pushed harder for Paris Saint-Germain boss Mauricio Pochettino rather than opting for Rangnick.

‘The club just feels it’s in a mess – player wise, staff wise, manager wise,’ said the former Old Trafford favourite.

Former United midfielder Scholes has questioned Ralf Rangnick’s credentials as interim boss

‘Manchester United is the biggest and the best. United should have the best available in the most important roles, and the most important role is the manager – it has to be.

‘We’ve gone to a man who is well regarded across Europe, but he hasn’t really had that much success as a coach.

‘He’s been asked to come and manage the biggest club in the world. It’s something I can’t get my head around.

Scholes says it is ‘astonishing’ that Rangnick was given the job after not ‘that much success’

‘Manchester United should have the best available out there employed as their manager and they haven’t got that, which I find astonishing.

‘It should be one of the top five managers in the world. Tuchel, Klopp, Guardiola, no chance you can get them. But Antonio Conte? The timing looked ideal.

‘You’ve seen what he’s done at Tottenham with a squad that is nowhere near as good as United’s. I think United missed a trick with him. I think they could probably still get him from Tottenham. I think he could do something special here.

Scholes also claims Antonio Conte would have been an ‘ideal’ pick as boss given the timing

‘Then you’ve got Pochettino with PSG. You can understand why they won’t let him go, but United are United. If they want a manager that badly, just go and get him.

‘I don’t think we’ll find out how many winners we have in this team until we find a proper top-class elite manager.’ 

Asked about possible January signings amid talk of dressing-room unrest, Scholes added: ‘It does feel poisonous. It feels like people are looking to get out rather than come in.’