Manchester United manager David Moyes is under unnecessary pressure due to the presence of Sir Alex Ferguson, claims Neil Warnock

Warnock believes that Ferguson isn't helping by observing his successor from such close quarters

Sir Alex Ferguson observes from the stands as Manchester United play Bayer Leverkusen at the BayArena (GETTY IMAGES)

David Moyes is having his life at Manchester United made more difficult by his predecessor Sir Alex Ferguson, according to former Premier League manager Neil Warnock.

Moyes saw his side suffer their fifth home defeat of the season in the 2-1 FA Cup loss to Swansea on Sunday, matching the total number of defeats at Old Trafford experienced in Ferguson’s final season in charge.

Since his retirement, Ferguson has become a regular at United matches, both home and away, but Warnock feels this is creating an unnecessary pressure on the shoulders of Moyes who has already seen his team falter on a number of occasions this year.

“You've got Sir Alex Ferguson sitting in the stands and I don't think that helps,” Warnock said while co-hosting the Alan Brazil Breakfast Show on talkSPORT.

The fallout from the defeat to the Swans has focused on the club’s transfer dealings across the rest of the month, with Moyes himself admitting that the squad needs urgent strengthening if they are to improve in the second half of the season.

However, who also spoke to try and defuse the notion that they must sign new players immediately, and claimed that a number of his transfer target won’t actually be available to sign in January. His revelation won’t be easily received by United fans, who are calling for immediate action in the transfer market or else they could fail to qualify for next season’s Champions League.

“There is an urgency that we would like to bring people in, but are those players available in January?” Moyes questioned.

“There is no point in me hyping it up because the players we would like to bring in are probably not available in January, not because we don’t want to do it.

“I said I would try, but that it would probably be doubtful in January because of the window.”

United will welcome Michael Laudrup’s side to Old Trafford for the second time in six days on Saturday, but must tackle the League Cup semi-final first leg at Sunderland before as they travel to the north-east on Tuesday evening.