Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag put down an early marker of his authority at the club with the exit of Ralf Rangnick from Old Trafford.
Rangnick was appointed as United's interim coach in December on a deal until the end of the season but it had been agreed that he would continue at the club in a consultancy role for two years. However, that plan was subsequently scrapped as his exit was confirmed at the end of last campaign.
Ten Hag never held a face-to-face meeting with Rangnick but did have a lengthy phone chat with the German prior to his exit just weeks later as his agreed longer-term role at United was binned by the club. Rangnick even left behind a three-player transfer shortlist for the summer transfer window, but this was ignored by Ten Hag, who had his own approach.
The 63-year-old took the reins of the Austrian national team to coincide with his United departure, with the club shelling out £14.7million to dismiss Rangnick and his coaching staff. The compensation costs were confirmed by United accounts, who filed the cost under 'exceptional items'.
In March, United revealed that they paid out £10m under the same 'exceptional items' category in the second quarter of the financial year – a figure that included the compensation to former boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and other members of his coaching staff that left the club.
The Norwegian was reported to have received in the region of £7.5m as a payoff, having penned a contract renewal at Old Trafford just months earlier. Michael Carrick and Kieran McKenna were the other high-profile coaches who were to leave United in the aftermath of Solskjaer's exit.
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Yet the exit of Rangnick and his coaching staff were substantially higher than that of his predecessors, despite the fact that they were on short-term coaching contracts. The entirety of the coaching exits, which also included costs of scouts who departed, last season cost United a whopping £24.7m.
The figures were revealed as the club confirmed a net loss of £115.5m last season in their quarterly financial figures. United's net debt now stands at £514.9m, compared to £419.5m for the same period the previous year - an increase of £95.4m.
The appointment of Ten Hag as permanent boss saw the Dutchman bring in his assistant Mitchell van der Gaag from Ajax alongside Steve McClaren, his confidant and the former United number two to Sir Alex Ferguson.
