Gary Neville believes Manchester United should appoint a British manager to succeed David Moyes, and backed his former teammate Ryan Giggs.
Giggs, the interim manager, has been placed in charge at Old Trafford for the final four games of the season, but the Holland national team coach Louis van Gaal remains the favourite to take the job permanently, and wants his future decided by the time he begins preparations for the World Cup on 7 May.
However, the England coach Neville, whose brother Phil is currently assisting Giggs as a coach at Old Trafford, would like United's "traditions" to be maintained.
"He started well on Saturday," Neville told Sky Sports, "so let him have two or three more games to see whether he settles into the position and whether he can bed in and be given that role.
"I don't think there's any certainty wherever you go. There's the idea that Ryan hasn't got experience but he knows the club and there's the idea that Van Gaal has massive experience, but doesn't know the Premier League.
"At the end of the day the owners will do what they want to do. I suppose in some ways they want an experienced hand, but I personally would like to see a British manager be appointed because Manchester United have always appointed British managers. We'll wait and see."
Neville dismissed the idea that Giggs shouldn't be considered by citing other examples from around Europe.
He said: "There's no hard and fast rule in appointing managers nowadays. You see some managers go in who have little experience – Diego Simeone, Pep Guardiola or Kenny Dalglish all those years ago.
"Then there's the idea of managers who have one or two good seasons like José Mourinho. It worked for Chelsea and then André Villas-Boas didn't.
"You've seen different examples of how sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't work. There is no hard and fast rule and until you appoint someone you haven't got a clue whether it's going to work or not.
"From that point of view, people say Ryan's got no experience but then is Van Gaal going to work? We don't know. It's a call for people at the club."
If Van Gaal is appointed, United could face some difficulties in their planned overhaul of the squad. The Dutch Football Association has made it clear that he will only be concentrating on national team business from next Wednesday, so if he is successful at the World Cup in Brazil, he will not be able to start work in earnest until the middle of July, around a month before the start of the season.
United are keeping tabs on a number of targets, including Paris Saint-Germain's Edinson Cavani, Bayern Munich's Toni Kroos and Southampton's Luke Shaw.
