The 63-year-old is intent on restoring United to the top of the domestic and European game, and there have been no indications from the club that last night’s defeat to Benfica could have an impact on his future with the club.

But Stapleton, who played under Ferguson during the early stages of the Scot’s Old Trafford tenure, believes any manager at a club with United’s profile must be challenging for the game’s top prizes.

“The team are in a little bit of transition and the manager’s talking about rebuilding, but in jobs like this sometimes you don’t get the time to do that,” Stapleton told Sky Sports News.

“The manager’s been there a long, long time and they trust him to do the job right, but people expect success and Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool ... those clubs are not allowed transition periods, and that will be a problem for the manager.”

United went without a trophy in the 2004-05 season, losing to Arsenal in the FA Cup final and finishing behind champions Chelsea and the Gunners in the Barclays Premiership.

Ferguson intends to strengthen his squad and expects to be backed by the United board, although it could be next summer before he moves in the transfer market.

“I think he knows he has to get stronger and better players in to get back to the success levels they’ve had in previous years,” said Stapleton.

“It isn’t as easy as people will think to go out and buy somebody.

“People have to be attracted by something, and the Champions League is obviously one of those. But Manchester United is always an attraction for anybody regardless of the success level at the time.

“Certainly there will be people who want to go there, but whether the club are willing to pay that money (is unknown), because the transfer amounts will go up now, knowing that United are desperate to get quality players in.”