Outspoken English footballer Joey Barton claimed former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson "couldn't coach" as he called for improvements in coaching standards in the English game.
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Barton was discussing how to increase the number of English players playing in the Premier League after Football Association chairman Greg Dyke set up a commission to look into the matter.
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Only around 30 percent of the players currently competing in the English top flight are eligible for selection by the national team – the worst ratio among Europe's five top leagues.
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"We're giving good players to mediocre coaches, because we're not developing coaches," Barton told the Leaders in Football conference in London on Thursday.
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"We don't honour coaches. We honour managers, we love managers –everyone loves Alex Ferguson.
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"I'm not here to disrespect Fergie – great manager, the icon, the pinnacle of British managers – but he couldn't put on a coaching session to save his life.
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"I've spoken to people about it. He could barely lay out cones. This is not a coach, this is a manager. This is the difference. There's a big, big difference between a coach and a manager."
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The Queens Park Rangers midfielder added: "Fergie's a great, great manager. But he's always had good coaches (alongside him), because he can't coach."
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Ferguson retired as United manager in May after a record-breaking 26-and-a-half-year spell in which he won 38 competitions, including 13 Premier League titles and two Champions League crowns.
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In an interview with the Harvard Business Review published last month, he admitted that he delegated responsibility for training sessions to his support staff in order to observe his players more closely.