Manchester United will NOT announce their new manager before the end of the season, executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward has told talkSPORT.

The Old Trafford chief has also revealed some of the top names in football have registered their interest in the job.

United have begun the search for their next permanent boss after sacking Jose Mourinho last week and placing club legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the hotseat for the remainder of the campaign.

3 Solskjaer has enjoyed a flying start with two wins in two games as caretaker manager

Mauricio Pochettino and ex-Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane has both been strongly linked with the role but the Tottenham head coach is the current favourite to take over, with the odds tumbling with every passing game.

But it appears the Red Devils are keen not to suffer in the same way Manchester City did when they appointed Pep Guardiola.

City announced Guardiola would replace Manuel Pellegrini in February 2016 with two months of the season still to play under the Chilean.

They were second in the Premier League at the time and still fighting on four fronts, but their form fell away after the mid-season announcement and they ended up finishing fourth in the table – with Leicester City crowned champions – and only winning silverware in the League Cup.

Getty 3 Man City’s deal with Pep Guardiola was announced while Manuel Pellegrini was still in charge

But Woodward has told talkSPORT host Jim White that United will announce nothing until the season under Solskjaer is over, adding a host of top managers are interested in the role.

Speaking of his recent conversation with the United chief, Jim said: “Ed Woodward told me, on the record, that last week was not a proud one for Manchester United.

“He said the club now needed to undergo the proper process of finding the right manager and that NOTHING will be announced before the end of the season.

“He said he’d been inundated with applications and recommendations – the top people in the game want this job.

3 Pochettino and Zidane have both been linked with the Old Trafford job

“But he said, at the end of the day, nothing will be announced before the end of the season.

“He also said [owners] the Glazers are huge United traditionalists and they want to emphasise that they want things to be run the Manchester United way.”