Ronaldo slams Man Utd for losing "very good man" as well as Ferguson

Cristiano Ronaldo believes Manchester United made a mistake by allowing David Gill to leave at the same time as Sir Alex Ferguson.

Gill resigned as United's chief executive in the summer of 2013 after spending a decade as the club's top operational officer. His exit coincided with Ferguson's retirement from management and the Red Devils struggled under Gill's successor Ed Woodward.

United have not won the Premier League title since the 2012/13 campaign and have lifted just three major trophies during that time. They finished sixth in the Premier League table last season and Ronaldo believes the club "stopped the clock" after Ferguson's exit.

In his explosive interview with Piers Morgan, Ronaldo said: "Piers, to be honest, when I signed for Manchester United, I thought everything was changed because it's 13 years... I was in Real Madrid nine years and three in Juventus. And when I arrived, I thought everything will be different, you know, the technology, the infrastructures and everything.

"But I was surprised, in a bad way, let's say in that way because I saw everything was the same... They stopped on a clock, in my opinion, which is something that surprised me."

On Gill's exit, Ronaldo said: "Sir Alex Ferguson left a big gap in the club, not only Sir Alex Ferguson, one person that I thought made the difference; David Gill, the President, is a very, very good man. And the structure around Sir Alex Ferguson was very important too.

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"So I knew that Manchester United wasn't the same. But don't see that it was so big a gap. So big things that go through by the last 10 years, and it was the thing that surprised me more, to be honest."

Much has been in made over the lack of improvements made at United's Carrington training ground and Old Trafford. Ronaldo has confirmed the facilities are not up to his high standards and believes the club is now "behind" in comparison to their rivals.

Ronaldo added: "At United, the progress was zero, in my opinion. To compare with Real Madrid and even Juventus, that they follow the rest of the world, so the technology, especially in terms of training, nutrition and conditions of, eat properly and to recover better than before - surprised me.

"Manchester right now to compare with that club, I think it's behind in my opinion, which is something that surprised me.

"A club with this dimension should be the top of the tree in my opinion and they are not, unfortunately. They are not in that level. But I hope the next years they can reach to be in a top level."

Watch 'Piers Morgan Uncensored: 90 Minutes with Ronaldo ', 8pm on Thursday on TalkTV. Find TalkTV on Sky 526, Virgin Media 606, Freeview 237, Freesat 217 and Sky Glass 508, live and on demand on the TalkTV app, streaming services and at Talk.TV.

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