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Suggestions of a future without the Class of ‘92 manning Manchester United’s backroom are starting to be treated as heresy, and yet setting these former stars loose to find their own ways in the game could well be of even greater benefit to the club in the long-run.

Even Ryan Giggs alluded to that point on Friday, saying: "I have got to decide if I want to play or not so there is no point thinking if I want to be an assistant or if I want to be a manager somewhere else. There are so many things to think about."

Usually, comparisons between football teams and the world of business start and end with the sort of flawed, trite statements that spilled out of Alan Sugar’s mouth as Tottenham Hotspur chairman. However, forget about profit and cost, when it comes to matters of succession - and the need to keep things fresh at the top - there are lessons to be heeded by Ed Woodward and his Glazer paymasters.

At present, their interim management team feels more like a family-run business than a coaching staff. Giggs, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Phil Neville have swept in as if they were favourite sons inheriting a workplace rather than ex-players filling in the gaps as caretakers. The romance is undeniable. The prospect that the firm Sir Alex Ferguson built up through the decades could be handed down to his four most-trusted academy graduates is an irresistible vision for many fans, but keeping things in-house brings its own dangers.

Going by United’s 4-0 win over Norwich City, Giggs and his fellow classmates seemed to be the perfect tonic to the club’s ailments, but the adrenaline rush that helped to spark off that performance - by a team still high off their liberation from an unpopular, reactive manager, playing without pressure or expectation - will eventually dissipate. Once the hype has died down, whoever ends up in charge will be left with a difficult rebuilding process, requiring many arduous and ruthless decisions to take last year’s champions back on the path to the top.

It seems a touch a naïve to assume Giggs would be the ideal candidate to smooth over this transitional phase when experience of handling such a burden could be so crucial. The touting of such well-travelled sages as Carlo Ancelotti and Louis van Gaal as potential hires rings true with a sort of sensible pragmatism. By contrast, throwing a challenge of this magnitude at a managerial novice, regardless of their obvious promise and charisma, seems rather irresponsibly optimistic.

The old logic of “if you’re good enough, you’re old enough” sounds a bit reductive given the exhaustive schedules of the modern game and the immense pressure, scale and complexity involved with managing a club like United. Giggs needs time to flesh out his abilities under the watchful eye of a proven name rather than being rushed into a situation that could yet crush and taint him as a manager through no fault of his own.

Relying on four of the club’s greatest-ever servants to bring forth a brave new era may not be the bold, progressive step many believe it to be either. A family-run business must be careful not to stagnate and become blinkered and close-minded, and without the necessary influx of new ideas that come about from appointments outside their clan’s bubble, it’s all too easy for an incestuous “yes man” culture to take root. Unfortunately, looking within can often lead to a failure to see beyond received wisdom and dogma.

Opinion: The Class of 92 obsession could turn United into the new (old) Liverpool.

Pep Guardiola is the obvious counter-example to many of these points, and yet if you delve beyond the romance of his ascendency from club captain to youth coach to managerial great you'll find a develop path broken up by stints in Italy, Qatar and Mexico.

In fact, it was in Mexico where he studied for his coaching qualifications at a management school in Axocopan, Puebla while playing for Dorados de Sinaloa in 2006. Later, after finally calling an end to his playing days, he famously travelled to Argentina to seek the wisdom of Cesar Luis Menotti and Marcelo Bielsa before heading into management.

(Image: Handout)

At an barbecue at Bielsa’s home in Rosario he is said to have sat talking to the then Chile manager for 11 hours on the concepts behind his tactics – a conversation often credited for helping to shape and refine the ideas that Guardiola had for his future teams. The influence of Van Gaal in the Spaniard’s achievements cannot be dismissed either, with the Dutchman having both coached the studious midfielder during his stints in Barcelona and partly laid the groundwork for the tiki-taka domination that was to come with his methods.

Giggs has already taken the time to begin collecting his coaching badges but throwing him into the Old Trafford hot seat permanently this summer would deny him the opportunities to wander, both in his mind and with his body, that his Catalonian counterpart benefitted so greatly from. That’s not to say that Giggs cannot learn and develop as a manager-in-waiting by remaining at United, but it would be far easier for him to travel and expand his horizons as a coach or assistant manager to the likes of Van Gaal rather than the club’s omnipresent commander-in-chief.

Having established the infrastructure that eventually helped to spawn some unprecedented periods of success at Barcelona and Bayern Munich, who is to say that the serial empire builder can’t strike again in Manchester, preparing the ground for United’s favourite son to lead the club to new heights?

Of course, the debate over the need to keep the Class of ’92 intact at Old Trafford isn’t all about success. Gary Neville’s tweets about the prospect of his former team-mates being marginalised or released from the backroom staff hint at the fears some hold over the club losing its identity. Considering the alienation brought about by David Moyes’ tactics and media speak however, it seems odd to suggest that a foreigner would compromise the club’s traditional values over a self-consciously “British” appointment, but even Ferguson relied on external input to keep his teams progressing. Carlos Queiroz and Rene Meulensteen came from further afield than Govan and were arguably two of the most influential figures at the club over the past few years besides the manager himself.

(Image: Getty)

They brought invaluable experience and contrasting views to his bench, having travelled the world developing their innovative coaching methods – Queiroz authored The Q-Report on player development in the United States, while Meulensteen continued the work of pioneering Dutch trainer Wiel Coerver – and forming their own views on the game. Should Giggs remain as manager, surrounded by Scholes, Butt and Neville, there is a danger their collective knowledge pool would be limited for a club of United’s stature, and if a manager such as Van Gaal does replace them, it may be best for the treble-winners to be broken up, if only temporarily.

It may be best for them to gain their own unique experiences elsewhere and learn alternative methods to become truly valuable advisers to the United managers of the future, especially if that proves to be Giggs. There needs to be a contrariness brought about by external ideas in order to augment the club’s traditional strengths and values rather than over-rely on them to the point of impotency.

Returning to Guardiola, it’s also worth remembering that he suffered burn out after just four years in the job at Barcelona. United fans are likely to want Giggs to remain in office far beyond that sort of timescale, which is perhaps another argument as to why he should wait before throwing himself into the bear pit of trying to succeed Ferguson.

In the meantime, he could become a link between the next manager and the club’s identity, spirit and squad, easing the tensions and relations between the new regime, especially if it’s headed by the notoriously uncompromising Van Gaal. At the same time, his future assistants can spread their wings and develop their own expertise, ideas and careers so that they can potentially one day return to refresh and reinvigorate the dressing room rather than merely reading from a pre-configured script.