Sir Alex Ferguson said he has "no doubts" Louis van Gaal will be a success at Manchester United, despite making a slow start to life at Old Trafford.
Van Gaal lost his first Premier League match and did not win any of his first four games in charge of United, but Ferguson drew comparisons with his own difficult beginning after he replaced Ron Atkinson in 1986.
And the former United manager, who retired in 2013, is not worried that one of his successors has encountered early difficulties.
"He has not been getting the results that are expected, but when I came to the club I didn't get the results I expected myself at the beginning," he told MUTV. "What we needed then was Sir Bobby Charlton, Martin Edwards and the board to stick by me and we had a great spell after that.
"Once I got settled into the club, everything was fine. Louis is going through that same process and there's no doubt in my mind that he will sort it out.
"It's the rebuilding of the team and they have brought in some good quality. It was really important because you need quality at Manchester United, you need the best players."
Ferguson also revealed he suffered in the stands when Liverpool beat United at Old Trafford last season.
The 72-year-old, who picked David Moyes as his successor, did his best to hide his feelings when Brendan Rodgers' team won 3-0 on enemy territory in March.
Like Manchester City and Everton, Liverpool did a league double over United in the first season without Ferguson in the helm -- and Ferguson admits the defeats hurt him.
"I got annoyed when we lost to Liverpool last year," he added. "I didn't enjoy that. I didn't like losing to Liverpool and Manchester City last year, because they are your biggest rivals and the ones you always strive to defeat and are always in our way, particularly Liverpool, of course.
"The way I've always been and I did it as a manager, I'm actually quite stone-faced watching a game.
"I don't try to show any emotions unless we score. I always celebrate a goal, even now as a director I still celebrate a goal, but you're always conscious maybe the cameras are on you and this is happening quite a lot. Obviously the press don't miss an opportunity to focus on me during a game."