IT is the club once dubbed the benchmark for brilliance — yet now mocked as a masterclass in mayhem.
Maybe not in the stubborn, self-assured world of Erik ten Hag, but most definitely in the wider one of just about everybody else.
For two decades, Manchester United was a byword for sparkle and style. Now, it has become a guarantee of clangers and cock-ups.
No shortage in the opener against Fulham, for all it was a win. Even more in the defeat at Brighton — and an absolute hatful when Liverpool spanked their backsides a week ago.
How ironic, then, that for all the on-field howlers, the most baffling blunder of all came from the club’s boardroom.
If timing is indeed everything, this was the finest example of getting it wrong. One that brought another adage to mind 24 hours later — about hindsight being 20-20 vision.
Although sometimes it doesn’t need a crystal ball. Not when common sense is staring you in the face from the off.
A summer that began with United hunting high and low for a new manager ended with Ten Hag still in the hotseat when the search proved fruitless.
Just hours before bitter rivals Liverpool were in town, chief executive Omar Berrada and sporting director Dan Ashworth wanted to hammer home their belief in the Dutchman.
He is, insisted Berrada, “absolutely the right coach for us”. Of course he is — definitely there through faith, not default.
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Of course they back Erik because they are convinced he will lead United back to the top, not because saying anything else would be a confession of failure on their part.
That was never going to happen, was it? Admitting mistakes clearly isn’t on the agenda at Old Trafford.
Which is why none of the suits would accept that the timing of their public show of confidence in Ten Hag was so woeful either.
Before they faced their fiercest rival? One hell-bent on avenging the two Old Trafford slips of last season? What were they thinking?
Given United’s tendency to turn mountains into molehills, it would have been risky against Southampton or Ipswich. But Liverpool?
While some will argue one result was never going to change anything, the only thing unjust about Liverpool’s 3-0 win was that it should have been by more.
So an intended vow of conviction in the manager instead became a vote of confidence three games in.
Not that confidence is something Ten Hag has ever lacked. To him, those who criticise and question do so through ignorance.
He railed when asked if there was now no margin for error. Bragged there had been more trophies at Old Trafford than Anfield in his two years as boss.
There was more at Wigan Athletic than Merseyside in Brendan Rodgers’ first two at Liverpool as well.
Ten Hag can shout as loud and long as he likes about progress and embarrassingly claim that he feels sorry for those who point fingers at United mistakes.
When so many are doing so, perhaps it’s time to stop being arrogant and admit that they have a point.
It’s too early to judge his five summer signings. But the previous 16, costing more than £600m, have not exactly been a roaring success.
While Ten Hag barely hides his contempt for media opinions, are ex-United players such as Roy Keane, Teddy Sheringham and Paul Scholes naive know-nothings, too?
Do you feel sorry for them, too, Erik? Do you feel sorry for the thousands and thousands of fans who cannot see or share your belief?
Obviously he has to stay upbeat. After all, if the manager doesn’t keep his head up, there’s no chance the players will.
And it is still too early to judge his five summer signings. But the previous 16 — costing more than £600million — have not exactly been a roaring success.
Ten Hag, though, remains defiant, insisting: “There are many games to play and I know where we will be at the end of the season.”
But as someone who has followed the club for over half a century, that’s the fear — once again United will be as far from the top as the day he arrived.
The question is, will Ten Hag still be around to see it?
Not many would put their house on it — whatever Berrada and Ashworth are saying right now.
PAUL MITCHELL says the transfer strategy he walked into at Newcastle was a mess, pointing out he only had a supporting role this summer.
Whether he would have been so quick to say the same if the Toon had pulled a rabbit out of the hat, instead of the shocking window they endured, only he knows.
That aside, whatever grievances he had with the previous regime, did he really have to air them in public?
Almost like the kid at school who, when the teacher wants to know the one responsible for the dirty picture on the blackboard, points the finger and says: “It’s him, not me miss.”
Was having a pop at Dan Ashworth and those who’d gone before him really the wisest move?
I’d suggest not. Any more than his dig at manager Eddie Howe for not having alternatives to top target Marc Guehi.
Sometimes you can see a head-on collision coming long before it happens. And this has all the makings . . .
FRANCIS LEE was a player where the middle ground was never an option.
To fans of Manchester City and Derby, he was a hero. To most others, he was a horror.
Yet whatever your camp, he was a character. As a player, as a racehorse trainer and then the owner of his beloved City.
He’s also the man who got me a job on the Racing Post 40 years ago after a word to the wise on one of his nags when I had to do a tipping piece as part of the interview.
Franny passed away last year but tomorrow sees the publication of his autobiography. It’s a great read, believe me. Whoever you support…
