Manchester United Treble winner Andrew Cole can't see new manager Erik ten Hag turning things around quickly.
Ten Hag has been handed the task of reviving United after his arrival from Ajax, yet Cole has told the Sunday World in an exclusive interview that it will take 'many, many years' before his former club will be challenging for the game's top honours once again.
Speaking at a Bookmakers.com event in London, Cole outlined a grim future for the club he helped to take to the pinnacle of the game by spearheading their historic Treble-winning campaign in 1999.
"How long will it be before Manchester United are competitive again? It's years away and I worry about how long it will be," began Cole, speaking with real emotion as he summed up the plight of his former club.
"This won't be fixed in one or two transfer windows, no chance. The problems in that team are so deep now that it will take a lot longer than that.
"People need to stop wearing blindfolds and thinking this new manager Erik ten Hag will come in, sign a few players and everything will be okay again.
"That isn't how football works. Manchester United finished sixth this season and they were lucky to finish sixth. They were a long way from being good enough and the performances time and again showed that.
"Then you look at the teams at the top of the table and they are light years ahead. I don't want to know how many points behind Manchester City and Liverpool they were in the end, but it was a lot and that gap is real. It can't be closed quickly.
"Look at Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal, West Ham... they are all years away from competing with the top two and United are in that boat as well.
"If it was only going to take a couple of transfer windows to get close to City and Liverpool, the other teams would not be 20 and 30 points behind them this season."
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