Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has brought Manchester United's culture back to the 1970s or 1980s, if not earlier. In 1974, United had gone nearly six years without applying any silver polish, and as a result, they were demoted. United's trophy drought lasted nine years, although the club's resurgence began with relegation from the Premier League.

Following Doc's Red Army's promotion to the top division, United supporters of a particular vintage will remember the 1974-75 season in Division Two, when the club steamrolled to third place and a berth in the FA Cup final against Southampton.

Without the error of a referee, Manchester United's return to the top flight may have been completed with their first trophy since winning the European Cup in 1968. United manager Tommy Docherty promised the team that they would be back at Wembley the following year to win it, which they did, ending Liverpool's aspirations of winning the Premier League.

Undeniably, under Docherty, United's change was extremely slow and methodical. On the opening day of the season at Leyton Orient four months after the humbling loss to Manchester City in April 1974, ten of the starters from that game were on the field. Damien Docherty's team at Brisbane Road only had one summer signing, Stuart Pearson, and he was the only one to make the cut.

Clubs have become so well-stocked with talent that they can deploy three recognized XIs, and Manchester United is expected to have the largest player turnover since 2014. On July 1, the contracts of five veteran players will be ripped up, and the list of potential replacements has surpassed ten.

That is the legacy of the Glazers. As far as Joel Glazer has been able to get to Old Trafford in the last three years, he's sent Tom Brady as his delegate. The presence of Richard Arnold has increased dramatically since Ed Woodward was forced to go, and the new United chief executive is speaking with supporters who are members of the club's fans' advisory council in confidence.

On the latest investors' conference call, there were thousands of people participating, but deeds speak louder than words. Due to the fact that there would be no plinth necessary in the museum for the fifth consecutive season, United is under increasing pressure to complete the process of selecting their next manager as soon as possible.

In pre-production on a film, the producers and director have to choose their star before casting around them, and this is not dissimilar in any way to that. The destiny of a handful of players will be dictated by Manchester United's next manager, despite the fact that the vast bulk of decisions should have already been made.

It is not necessary for John Murtough and Darren Fletcher to get approval from Erik ten Hag in order to authorise sales of Eric Bailly, Phil Jones, and Anthony Martial. It is possible that Martial will be allowed to stay at United if Mauricio Pochettino succeeds in his ambition to become the manager of the club.

To be considered, the case would need to be convincing. Martial is 26 years old and will be out of contract in two years. He has had two solid seasons out of seven, and his attitude is the polar opposite of what United require from their new coaching staff and management. " It was my intention to depart when he (Ralf Rangnick) came ""This week," he added.

Ten Hag would be a more compliant choice if United were to lay a greater focus on evolution rather than revolution as their strategy. By creating two dynamic squads in 2019 — one on either side of the sales of Matthijs de Ligt and Frenkie de Jong — Ten Hag has returned Ajax to their perch in the Netherlands without earning a chequebook reputation. Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino was known for his belligerent soundbites on the club's recruitment ("I am not in charge and I know nothing about the situation of my players.").

Pochettino and Ten Hag met in the 2019 Champions League semi-finals.

During Ajax's comeback season of 2018-19, Ten Hag woke up the sleeping giant. Ajax won their first title in five years and reached the last four of the Champions League thanks to Ten Hag's help. Ten Hag's ability to nurture young players, as well as his duration in the position - he has been in charge at Ajax for nearly four and a half years - are both clear draws.

Ten Hag, on the other hand, is not the best qualified coach to supervise Manchester United's most significant team reconstruction in eight years. As a result of the atypical campaign in which they were a Lucas Moura shot away from reaching the final, Ajax have departed the Champions League in the group stage for the past two seasons and lost to Benfica in this year's last 16 for the first time.

Points of interest in Dusan Tadic, Sebastian Haller, and Steven Berghuis are all Premier League rejects who play for Ten Hag's teams. The Eredivisie is a bully league with a flat track for veterans and a midway house for young, talented players in the Netherlands. Memphis Depay and Donny van de Beek, on the other hand, went in the opposite direction and were duds at Manchester United. De Ligt has through a harrowing couple of years with Juventus.

Ajax has a wage bill of €95 million. United's total debt is £284 million. At £20.2 million, Haller is the most expensive signing in Ajax history. In 2016, Paul Pogba became the most expensive player in the world when he signed for Manchester United for £89 million. Ajax does not appear to have any uncontrollable egos. They are in abundance at Manchester United.

Character is just as important as skill development. Ten Hag is unable to prepare for the harsh scrutiny that would be applied to him at United because the club is unlike any other athletic institution on the planet. He takes pleasure in the relative calm of the River Amster, where Ajax players use the bike lane and where inquests are submitted in May. Every month, at least, is the case at United.

United hasn't won since 2017's Europa League.

The Sunday Times quoted Edwin van der Sar as saying three years ago, "At a certain time, we offer [players] the opportunity to leave." In his six years at Manchester United, Van der Sar had the privilege of playing alongside Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic.

During a visit to Old Trafford last week, Murtough was his usual amiable self, pushing the flesh and addressing reporters by name ahead of the FA Youth Cup semi-final triumph over Wolves. The previous week, he had watched from the directors' box as United were thrashed 4-1 by Manchester City, the third time in this century that they had done so.

Even though the post-mortems were gruesome, Murtough maintained his positive attitude, and the Youth Cup has provided some reprieve for the Reds. Murtough and Kieran McKenna worked together to run the academy on an interim basis in 2015-16, and Murtough's excitement following the defeat of Chelsea in December 2018, one of McKenna's lasting legacies, was contagious.

"Brilliant," Murtough responded, gesturing to McKenna, who was visiting the Leigh Sports Village at the time. In the team that evening, McKenna's proteges Brandon Williams, James Garner, and Teden Mengi could be seen, and technical director Darren Fletcher stated that the trio would be engaged in pre-season. In addition to Ethan Laird, Ten Hag is considering additional prospective academy projects.
The identity of Ten Hag is one of the assurances. Auch with Docherty, United had a similar situation.