Ferguson delight as United go top

After a goalless first half, the Red Devils struck six times in the second period, with Cristiano Ronaldo netting his first Red Devils hat-trick to send Ferguson's men soaring to the Premier League summit.

"The second-half performance was as good as you could ask for," said Ferguson. "I am really pleased for Cristiano. He was always going to get a hat-trick at some point and hopefully he will get a few more."

Ronaldo's three-timer, took his season's tally to 22 goals and Ferguson added: "The way he is going this season, who is to say where he will finish up. He is improving all the time."

Newcastle caretaker boss Nigel Pearson was left to reflect on the Tyneside outfit's biggest defeat against Manchester United in 40 years and called for the managerial uncertainty at the club to be settled "as soon as possible".

While United's army of supporters can look forward to the next few months with relish, an air of gloom is enveloping the Toon Army, who saw Sam Allardyce sacked on Wednesday and number one candidate to replace him, Harry Redknapp, snub the offer to take charge at St James' Park just hours before kick-off.

"It has been a very difficult day," he said. "When you are going through a transition period you need things to be as smooth as possible. Results like this make it very difficult. I am not going to make excuses. It is plain for all to see the situation would be better served by being resolved quickly."

Ferguson certainly feels the Newcastle hierarchy need to start taking a long-term view of the situation and give whoever eventually replaces Allardyce - Mark Hughes is now the favourite but Alan Shearer is the fans' choice - a chance to turn the situation around, saying: "I would say Newcastle are the most difficult club to manage in the game, gobbling up managers and spitting them out again with hardly a pause.

"Sadly, it seems that at St James' Park, if things don't go right straight away, the manager quickly finds himself operating against a background of criticism and questioning that inevitably leaves him operating on a match-by-match basis with ceaseless speculation about his future.

"It is hardly the platform for being able to introduce a long-term strategy and build the right foundations. If they regarded their managers as something more than ships that pass in the night they might achieve the stability and consistency that is the basis of success at any club."