Sir Alex Ferguson leaned on Jose Mourinho to remind him of Manchester United's youth traditions.
The pair have spoken extensively since Mourinho's appointment at Old Trafford and plan to bounce ideas off each other going forward.
Ferguson made it clear to the Portuguese how much esteem United hold their academy record in, with the club now having gone an incredible 3,803 consecutive matches having fielded a trainee in their starting XI.
That spans over 78 years and a chief reason the former boss - who still sits on United's 'football board' alongside David Gill and Sir Bobby Charlton - is encouraging Mourinho to look towards Nicky Butt's academy for more stars.
He referenced the rise of both Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard, two players to have shone in every age group before first-team recognition, and claimed there are others waiting for a break.
Mourinho is also planning to offer pep talks to this season's scholars as to what is expected if they are to make an impression on the Under 21s and beyond.
Two who have already been pushed in Mourinho's direction are Axel Tuanzebe and Tyrell Warren, who are travelling with the squad to face Wigan in a friendly on Saturday.
Tuanzebe, 19, and Warren, just 17, were recommended to the new manager by head of academy Butt and head of football development John Murtough.
Mourinho is also likely to gauge how ready Timothy Fosu-Mensah is for regular games at right back, and appears ready to take on responsibility of promoting further teenagers to his squad.
He was clear about his track record on Tuesday when unveiled as Louis van Gaal's successor, carrying a notebook of 49 names to have flourished as youngsters under his watch.
Mourinho offered to show the media the colour-coded list after his press conference ended but pulled the pad away when a bottle of water was knocked nearby.
Later that afternoon United circulated a new list featuring 55 names Mourinho had given a leg up to, surprisingly including Chelsea's £12million signing Arjen Robben back in 2004.
Regardless, he is said to be intent on crushing the perception of forgetting about youngsters - and even went to meet Rashford at England's pre-European Championship camp to discuss the next season.
Mourinho is understood to have reassured the 18-year-old of where he stands and laid out how he envisages playing. Rashford was name-checked during an in-house interview last week indicating his role will be in conjunction with Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Ferguson had been keen to subtly make the point of United's obvious tradition and will be allowed around their Carrington training ground as much as he likes, according to Mourinho, who said he wants to utilise the 74-year-old.
Joking that his only advice had been to 'bring an umbrella and bring my typical bottle of wine', Mourinho said: 'We are going to have many occasions to be together. When Sir Alex's summer holidays are finished I will be based in Manchester like him so we will have lots of time to meet.
'He will always be welcome to the training ground obviously and we will have a lot of time to share our personal stuff, friends, family and life.
'Obviously his opinion is important to me, the same way so many legends in this club they love this club - some of them are in the pundits industry at this moment so every opinion will be important to me.
'People who love the club will always be respected by myself. And I will try and learn from them what they can teach me.'
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