Man Utd manager Van Gaal needs more time, says Moyes

Manchester United's manager Louis van Gaal, pictured on Dec 28, 2015, has faced weeks of speculation as United slipped to sixth in the Premier League. (AFP/Oli Scarff)

MANCHESTER: Former Manchester United manager David Moyes believes the Premier League club should stand by under-pressure manager Louis van Gaal.

The Dutchman, 64, has faced weeks of speculation as United slipped to sixth in the Premier League table after limping out of the Champions League in the group phase.

Moyes took over from Alex Ferguson in 2013 but was dismissed after just 10 months with Van Gaal succeeding him in May 2014.

And the 52-year-old believes dismissing Van Gaal 18 months into his reign would be a step in the wrong direction. "What Manchester United stand for is that they keep their managers, they've always supported their managers," Moyes told BT Sport 1.

"I hope they stick with Louis van Gaal, he deserves more time. It's still a work in progress for him, he's made some signings and from my experience in Spain it will take time for players from abroad to settle in. So, I think they should stick with it. They don't want to become a club which continuously changes their manager."

Moyes admits that taking over from the most successful manager in the club's history was never going to be easy. "I think after Sir Alex the job was going to be very difficult," the Scot said. "It was going to take time to rebuild, it was a rebuilding job at Manchester United."

The former Everton manager also said he was still unhappy about how his reign at Old Trafford ended.

"My understanding was that I was going to a club which always looked after their managers, even when they were in trouble and it wasn't going well, you got your time to sort things out," Moyes said.

"I was under that illusion when I was there. I had a great group of players they had recently won the Premier League under Sir Alex, but it was going to take time for that to change, evolve and of course there was going to have to be a changeover of players in time, but it couldn't be done in 10 months."

Moyes, who was sacked by Real Sociedad last month, insists he would nevertheless take the position at Old Trafford again. "Of course I would. There are very few managers in the world who wouldn't want to manage Manchester United."

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