Man Utd's key criteria for next manager laid out after Ruben Amorim and Erik ten Hag fell short

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Tony Pulis believes the next Manchester United boss must be someone who has coached or played at the highest level. The former Stoke City and West Brom boss had his say on the back of Ruben Amorim's dismissal.

Amorim waved goodbye to Old Trafford this week after just over a year in the hot seat and the hunt is now on to find a replacement. Darren Fletcher has taken over in the interim and his side drew 2-2 with Burnley on Wednesday.

The departure of Amorim comes 14 months after Erik ten Hag's dismissal , with the Dutchman spending around two and a half years in charge. He arrived from Ajax, whereas Amorim came from Sporting CP, where he won two Portuguese league titles.

With the search for their next head coach underway, Pulis believes that whoever they recruit should have either played or managed at a club of a similar size to United, due to the overwhelming sense of history.

"I want to stick with managers. I don't want to see managers get the sack. You want them to be given the chance and the opportunity," began Pulis, speaking on The Managers podcast.

"But the selection of those two [Ten Hag and Amorim] for Manchester United… They are an institution that has to have someone who is a top, top person who has actually managed or played at that level and understands what it's all about.

"It's just overpowering. You're dealing with people outside. They've all got an opinion. You look at United and you see the people who have played through that great era with Sir Alex [Ferguson], who have got an opinion on everything.

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"Not only have you got to manage your team, but you've got to manage that situation outside. I'm sure the two of them never had that at the clubs they'd been at before."

Pulis also thinks that during both Amorim and Ten Hag's time at the club, United's transfer activity was sub-par. He questioned who was really pulling the strings.

"If you're looking at exactly what has happened with Ten Hag and Amorim and you have a look at the recruitment, the recruitment has been absolutely shocking," added Pulis.

"There is no getting away from it. Now, who is responsible for that? Has it been the two managers or has it been someone behind he scenes who might be there and still be picking players? When you are going into a job, you actually lay out what you want. I just think with those two managers, they had two years at top clubs, but it wasn't year after year after year.

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"There have been some great Portuguese managers like [Jose] Mourinho and there's been some great Dutch managers. I just think those two were very young in respect to what they'd done.

"Then United picked them up because they'd won the league or did well in European Cup games. Or did they pick them because they thought they could dominate them a little bit and control them? I don't know."

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