Gary Neville has thanked departing Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for "restoring some soul into the club".
Solskjaer saw his three-year reign at Old Trafford come to an end in the wake of his side's 4-1 drubbing at the hands of Watford on Saturday.
United slipped to seventh in the Premier League standings after that result, with the Norwegian paying the price for a hugely disappointing start to the season, but Neville believes he deserves credit for the job he did at Old Trafford.
What's been said?
United legend Neville said of his former team-mate on Twitter: "Thank you Ole. You did us proud. The last two months were tough but before that you restored some soul into the club."
The former Red Devils captain added on Sky Sports: "Ole will reflect upon it with sadness at the end, but he should be proud of the work he did in the first two or three years.
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"The club was in a dark place at the end of the Jose Mourinho era, some players turned mercenary. Now there are some good lads in the dressing room, they're just not performing at the moment."
He did, however, admit that Solskjaer "can't complain" about being dismissed after being given a fair amount of time to stamp his own mark.
"Ole can't complain in the sense he's been given three years and been backed in the transfer market," said Neville. "He'll be massively disappointed over the fact he's not been able to deliver performances this season.
"He expected a lot more, we all expected a lot more. Only he and the players will understand what's gone wrong this last couple of months."
Solskjaer's record as United boss
The Red Devils steadily rose up the table under Solskjaer's stewardship, with a 6th place finish in 2018-19 followed by a third-place berth in 2019-20 and a runners' up spot in 2020-21.
He ultimately failed to deliver any silverware, though, with his final record reading 91 wins, 37 draws and 40 losses from 168 games at the helm.
Who is in line to be next Man Utd manager?
A number of high profile candidates are already reportedly in the frame to succeed Solskjaer, with United having confirmed that they will look to appoint an interim boss until the end of the season.
Leicester's Brendan Rodgers and Paris Saint-Germain tactician Mauricio Pochettino have been mentioned, as have former RB Leipzig manager Ralf Rangnick and Laurent Blanc - who is currently in charge of Qatari club Al-Rayyan.
However, it has been suggested that Zinedine Zidane and Erik ten Hag are the two frontrunners for the role.
Zidane is available now, having been out of work since leaving Real Madrid at the end of 2020-21, while Ten Hag is currently in charge of Ajax and a compensation package would be needed to get him out of his contract.
Further reading
- Solskjaer sacked by Man Utd
- De Gea: Man Utd players to blame for Watford nightmare
- Solskjaer confirms Pogba could miss up to three months