11.02.2019 16:18 h

Fergie's fledglings: Man Utd players who took management plunge

Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes has taken his first job in club management, being appointed boss of League Two side Oldham.

He joins a lengthy list of former United players who have worked under Alex Ferguson and subsequently gone into management including Phil Neville, Gary Neville, Gordon Strachan, Jaap Stam, Paul Ince, Bryan Robson and Teddy Sheringham.

Here are five more ex-Red Devils who starred under Ferguson before moving into the dugout themselves.

The Norwegian took charge of the reserve team at Old Trafford after his playing days were over before being appointed manager of Molde in his native Norway in 2011, where he won two domestic titles as well as the Norwegian Cup. He had a turbulent eight-month spell at Cardiff in 2014 during which the club suffered relegation from the Premier League. Solskjaer rejoined Molde in October 2015 before being named United interim manager in December 2018 after the sacking of Jose Mourinho. The 45-year-old has won 10 and drawn one of his opening 11 games to boost his hopes of landing the job on a full-time basis.

Former defender Bruce helped form the bedrock of Ferguson's first period of sustained United success before moving into management at the end of his playing career in 1998. Bruce's first lengthy managerial spell came at Birmingham -- he led the club into the Premier League in 2007. Bruce next managed Wigan, guiding the club to an 11th-place Premier League finish in 2008/09. Spells at Hull, Sunderland and Aston Villa followed and he recently took charge of Championship side Sheffield Wednesday.

The tough-tackling Ireland midfielder had stints with Sunderland and Ipswich before working as Ireland assistant under boss Martin O'Neill. Keane and O'Neill helped Ireland reach Euro 2016 via the play-offs, but were knocked out in the last 16 by France. The duo relinquished their national roles in November 2018 but have been reunited at Nottingham Forest.

Wales winger Giggs stepped straight from the pitch into the club's backroom staff at Old Trafford as a player-coach assistant to new boss David Moyes in 2013. When Moyes was sacked, Giggs took over as caretaker boss until the end of the season, before moving fully into coaching at the club under Louis van Gaal. Giggs left Old Trafford when Jose Mourinho was appointed manager in 2016. In January 2018 he succeeded Chris Coleman as Wales manager.

Hughes's first managerial role was also in charge of Wales. He enjoyed a successful stint at Blackburn before moving to Manchester City in 2008, where he was eventually replaced by Roberto Mancini in December 2009 after failing to live up to Sheikh Mansour's lofty ambitions. Mixed spells with Fulham, QPR and Stoke followed before Hughes's last job, in charge of Southampton, ended in December 2018.