Wayne Rooney disclosed that a lack of communication between Jose Mourinho and Manchester United players was one of the main reasons for discontent at the club.
"I think that was the one surprise that I had, that the communication with the players wasn't as much as it could have been," Rooney told BT Sport during their coverage of Man Utd's 5-1 win against Cardiff on Saturday evening.
The now DC United player's final year at Old Trafford overlapped with Mourinho's first. Rooney began that season in favour with Mourinho but that slowly diminished as the season went on with Zlatan Ibrahimovic preferred.
The 33-year-old said that he received "nothing in detail" from Mourinho to explain why he had been dropped.
When you leave a player out for a game, sometimes for a player it gives them freedom of the mind when the manager says, 'I'm leaving you out for this reason or that reason.' The players didn't get that. That's the most difficult thing for a player to work out, why you're not playing.
There was nothing like, 'You're not doing this, you're not doing that.' It gives you something to work on or make yourself better at them certain things. I knew Zlatan was one of his big signings, he came in and was scoring goals and I maybe wasn't playing to the level which I knew I could do.
I think it's only right for a player to know why they're not playing. I knew myself that if I wasn't performing well enough, I wasn't going to be in the team. That's what happened.
The big thing with Jose was the [lack of] communication with the players. I know the players, they weren't happy with that.
Rooney added that he believes the club made the right decision in sacking Mourinho. He has been in contact with former colleagues at the club and said that the atmosphere has already changed with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Mike Phelan in charge.
"Yea, of course, I stay in touch with a lot of people at the club and speak to them quite a lot, certainly this week.
"To be a successful football club you need everything to be right. You need the staff at the training ground to be right, the groundsman, whoever that is, they need to feel happy and that rubs off on the players.
"But I think bringing Ole in, Mick Phelan in that will change. That already has changed.
"They're smiling, they're happy and that rubs off on the players."
