McClair a fan of old system

“The idea is trying to fix the Reserves’ games really because of the professional development,” added McClair. “Because a lot of players playing for the Under-18s could end up playing in the Under-21s and there’s two or three days’ difference in the games.

“Paul McGuinness can plan his week because he knows there is a game on the Saturday but Warren was all over the place with planning and, even within that, sometimes fixtures can change at a week’s notice.

“One of the ideas is Warren can plan his whole week of work going towards the actual game. I think most of our Under-21 games are on a Monday night so he can plan things but we just don’t know how it’s going to transpire until you’ve gone through it.

“We had a festival at Carrington at the start of the season and we can always arrange them. We had Chelsea, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Tottenham here playing four 60 or 70-minute games as there was flexibility depending on the weather and the condition of the players.

“For me, those three days had a very, very good games programme. It was a great environment and I think the players and coaches really enjoyed themselves. If you can have that over 24 weekends, I think it’ll be ideal.”

More: Under-18 fixtures | United 3 Tottenham 1