When it comes to Manchester United's struggles to replace a manager who shaped the club to his own personality, Sammy McIlroy has seen it all before.
The Northern Irishman was Sir Matt Busby's last professional signing and then spent 11 years at United as various managers came up short when measured against their iconic predecessor.
McIlroy only had an FA Cup to show for his time at Old Trafford and that curse of replacing Busby was only lifted when Sir Alex Ferguson arrived. Now, history is repeating itself.
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Ferguson was the fifth permanent manager to follow Busby (after his second spell ended in 1971) and United are now on to their fifth attempt to find someone who can even come close to following in the footsteps of the Scot who has a stand named after him, a statue outside the ground and a seat in the directors' box.
McIlroy has watched this unfold from the stands rather than the pitch, as an analyst from MUTV and a regular matchday host in corporate boxes, and he's in no doubt what the focus needs to be on this summer.
"Personality is a massive thing for me now as a manager, they need to have a strong personality but also have experience, European experience, a winner, a man with a vision of knowing what United’s history is all about," he told the Manchester Evening News .
"It’s not just about winning games, you’ve got to win by entertaining. A manager has to come into the club knowing it’s about winning trophies, entertaining and handling the pressure.
"It’s alright from the outside looking at the club and thinking ‘it’s United, massive history’, but once you’re here you realise what it’s all about, it can eat you alive. You’ve got to be able to handle pressure, 24/7."
Plenty of managers could testify to the fact that this is a club that can eat its managers and then spit them straight back out. United have won a record-breaking 20 English titles but only three bosses have ever won the league at Old Trafford and one of them did so more than a century ago.
Busby and Ferguson are the outliers in being successful at this club. The old boys club with the bigger membership is the one where they have only really have tales of woe to tell about how hard the job is.
That's what this summer's chosen man will have to navigate. The weight of history and an insatiable demand for success from a fanbase who are beginning to tire of the famine over the previous nine years.
The problem is that there isn't a surefire candidate out there and of the two who lead the process, McIlroy has doubts about Erik ten Hag and Mauricio Pochettino.
"Pochettino is a big favourite maybe 18 months ago, but looking at PSG I’m not 100% convinced. A year and a half ago I’d have said yeah, but right now I’m not convinced," said McIlroy, speaking to promote his new autobiography, The Last Busby Babe .
"Ten Hag, has he done enough? I’m not sure. I can’t really put my hand on my heart and say ‘go and get him’. There’s nobody standing out for me that is a cert, that I think ‘go and get him’.
"I think this next decision we make is probably one of the most important over a number of years. If the manager comes in hopefully he gets time to set things up and make sure the team is successful. Hopefully, we get an experienced man who can handle it all, which I think we need.
"If we pick the right man, whoever it is, you’ve got to have the belief that in two or three years things will be beginning to turn around, but they’re going to be under pressure at some point at a club like United."
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