Sir Alex Ferguson believes experience will be key when it comes to naming his successor as Manchester United's manager.

Ferguson has tended to shy away from talk of retirement plans although his son, Darren, recently claimed that his father might walk away should he win a third European Cup and help United overtake Liverpool's record of 18 league titles with two more Premier League wins.

Health permitting, the United manager does not expect there to be a vacancy at Old Trafford for another two or three years. He does, however, feel that his replacement will need to be vastly experienced.

"I am glad it is not my decision," he told CNN. "But whoever it is, it needs to be someone with experience. Manchester United is a massive club. The club I joined in 1986 is nothing like the one it is today."

Jose Mourinho would fit such criteria, given the success the Portuguese has had with Porto, Chelsea and Internazionale. Candidates, however, come and go and it is not long since the former England manager Steve McClaren, once Ferguson's assistant, was talked about as a potential successor. Two former United captains, Bryan Robson and Roy Keane, have also fallen out of the picture.

"I like Jose Mourinho," said Ferguson. "He is a good guy and someone I get on very well with. But people forget how quickly the game changes. The job of a football manager is a pretty fragile one. You can be on the very top of the world and then after two defeats you are the worst team ever.

"Hopefully I will be here for another two or three years. Who knows what will have happened in that time. Thinking about Jose Mourinho or [Arsenal's] Arsène Wenger or whoever is going to be impossible.

"I am 67 now. At the moment I am still healthy and enjoying my job. If that was different I would quit immediately. But winning a specific trophy does not come into it."