Man United: Gary Neville says it will take over two years for Erik ten Hag to deliver trophy

Gary Neville has warned Manchester United fans not to expect any silverware under Erik ten Hag for at least two years as he admits they are 'a million miles away' from winning the Premier League.

Dutch coach Ten Hag was appointed United's new manager on Thursday morning and faces the unenviable task of rebuilding a club that has been in decline for almost a decade.

United have gone five years without winning a single trophy and former defender Neville has told the fanbase to expect that wait to continue a little longer as Ten Hag gets to work.

'Honestly, I wouldn't be putting too much pressure on Erik ten Hag in the first one or two years to win a trophy at the club,' he told Sky Sports News.

'It would be great if he did but that would actually be over-achieving in my opinion.

'First, it should be getting back into the top four, re-establishing Manchester United in the Champions League, attract the players into the club that play the way he wants to play and then start to get a system of belief.

'It took Jurgen Klopp five years to win a Premier League title [at Liverpool], as great a job as he has done.

'At the end of last year, to be fair, I thought United were getting closer [to winning the title]. Yet it's all collapsed and fallen to pieces and I don't know why that has happened.

'Erik ten Hag gets to pick up the pieces. Initial phase: Build the foundations of what he wants to achieve.

'I think year three, four or five is when you start to look at him to win trophies.'

United have endured another below par season and face an uphill struggle now to finish in the top four and secure another season of Champions League football.

Tuesday night's 4-0 thrashing at the hands of rivals Liverpool left them languishing in sixth, albeit only three points behind Tottenham in fourth place having played a game more.

They have also fallen short in the FA Cup, Carabao Cup and Champions League with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer fired back in November and Ralf Rangnick coming in as an interim manager.

Neville added: 'What we are seeing at this current moment is unacceptable. This needs to be dealt with initially and Erik ten Hag has a big job to get the club back up to those minimum standards that the club needs to achieve, which is attitude, work ethic, belief, confidence, then hopefully you start to think about winning trophies.

'I think he'll be given some time. He's got a massive job on and he's at a club in Ajax who are very different to Manchester United, so he'll have to adapt.

'The spotlight is obviously a lot greater and the scrutiny is a lot greater at Manchester United. And there's an element of risk to that. He doesn't know football too well in this country.

'But he's worked in different countries, he's got a philosophy he believes in and he's got to come over here and be his own man and do his own job.

'I've been very critical of everything at Manchester United at the moment, but particularly the owners, the culture, the approach to the last 10 years.

'It's been a pretty poor 10 years of repeated failure. So he's got a massive job.

'It's a huge job, a big ask to come in. And not just because of where Manchester United are currently at but what's happening at the other clubs in the Premier League in this moment in time.

'Manchester City and Liverpool are absolute Rolls-Royces at this moment in time and Thomas Tuchel is doing a fantastic job at Chelsea. So it's doubly hard.

'Not only has he got to correct Manchester United, he's got to take over two clubs who are purring like you wouldn't believe.'