Man United must listen to Rio Ferdinand's Sir Alex Ferguson warning as Erik ten Hag takes over

Moving on from Sir Alex Ferguson has proven difficult for Manchester United, and nine years on from the great man bidding farewell to Old Trafford, the club are still searching for a way to do so.

United are of course set to usher in yet another new era this summer as Erik ten Hag arrives from Ajax. The fact that the Dutchman is the eighth man, including caretakers, to take his seat in the dugout tells you a lot about the club’s struggles to replace Ferguson.

The man himself knew how tough the job could turn out to be for his successor when he addressed the Old Trafford crowd following his final game in charge. Having beaten Swansea in his last outing at home, Ferguson took the microphone to deliver his instructions to the fans.

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"I'd also like to remind you that when we had bad times here, the club stood by me, all my staff stood by me, the players stood by me,” he said. “Your job now is to stand by our new manager. That is important.”

We all of course know what happened to that new manager. David Moyes arrived at Old Trafford on a six-year contract, but wouldn’t even see out the first year of that deal as he departed after just 10 months.

Since then, it’s been a procession of managers as United have tried, and failed, to find a true successor to Ferguson. Ryan Giggs, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Michael Carrick and Ralf Rangnick have all had their opportunity, and none have delivered what the legendary Scot was able to.

Such was Ferguson’s impact that even his players had to remind themselves of the need to move on following his departure. Rio Ferdinand was among the senior group of players in the