• Former midfielder has been working with club’s youth teams since 2012 • Butt will replace Brian McClair in overseeing progress of young players

Nicky Butt has been handed the responsibility for reviving Manchester United’s struggling youth system after a comprehensive review behind the scenes ended with the former midfielder being appointed head of academy.

Butt, a member of United’s Class of 92 youth team, will take the job that Brian McClair vacated last year and oversee a revamp that started with the under-18s’ coach, Paul McGuinness, leaving his position last Friday after a string of bad results.

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“I am delighted that Nicky has accepted the role of Head of Academy,” said executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward in a statement on the club’s website. “Nicky has the traditions and heritage of this club in his blood and he is the natural choice to ensure that, in modernising the way the Academy operates and shaping the new investment we are making, it retains the values and the focus that it has always had.”

Butt added: “It’s a privilege to take on this role. As someone who learned his trade in the United youth set-up, it’s a huge honour now to be given the chance to lead the Academy and to instil its values and attitudes to continue to create future generations of Manchester United players.”

Butt’s task will be to try to restore United’s reputation among the best nurturers of young talent in the sport. The club has widely been perceived to have fallen behind Manchester City and other clubs such as Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.

The former England international, whose playing career also included six years at Newcastle United, has been working for his hometown club since 2012 in various coaching roles with the junior teams, although his ability to work with them closely was hindered last season when he ruptured an achilles tendon during a charity match.

His appointment falls in line with the policy at Old Trafford of trying to retain a strong old-boys’ network among the backroom staff. However, it is likely to provoke questions about why it took so long to finalise bearing in mind nearly 10 months have passed since McClair left the club for a new role at the Scottish Football Association.