A penny for the thoughts of the Manchester United power-brokers now Tottenham are preparing to dust off the Champions League banners.
Spurs are, of course, coached by Antonio Conte, available to United during that soul-searching week in October after supporters poured onto Sir Matt Busby Way with 20-odd minutes to play against Liverpool.
As reported at the time, United were not keen on Conte despite his receptiveness to replacing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. It is tricky to conclude what the worse decision was: standing by Solskjaer with Conte available or appointing Ralf Rangnick five weeks later?
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Rangnick talks a great game but his team plays a horrendous one. Supporters have relished the grenades he has lobbed towards the doorframe of the United dressing room but he is the club's worst manager since David Moyes. Brighton was the nadir for many United supporters aged 40 and under.
United wrote off their season before Christmas with the peculiar plan of hiring a caretaker and then an interim. Whether the latter was Rangnick, Ernesto Valverde, Lucien Favre or some other underwhelming and unworthy candidate, United would not have finished in the top four.
Rangnick has strategically attempted to divide his tenure between before and after the January internationals. Everyone knows about the seismic news story that broke in between the Fergie-time victory over West Ham and the FA Cup elimination by Middlesbrough.
United rose to fourth by beating West Ham but there had already been red flags: the performances at Norwich and Newcastle, the deserved defeat to Wolves, the second-half against Aston Villa and the first-half against Brentford. February was humdrum, bar the season-high of Elland Road, and as soon as United encountered a serious side in Manchester City they spiralled.
Dressing room disharmony was already rife by then, with certain individuals dismissive of Rangnick's methods. Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard, fringe players with eight starts between them all season, openly dispelled the notion Rangnick had any authority on Instagram.
Authority has been restored to the United manager's role and Erik ten Hag has to restore discipline to the dressing room. United fans have liked the cut of his jib in the wake of managing Ajax for the final time on Sunday and, even from across the North Sea, Ten Hag knows a sea change is needed.
The challenge is a daunting one. If United's squad situation mirrors the summer of 2019 then Ten Hag's arrival is comparable with Jose Mourinho's in 2016. The managerial landscape is similarly intense to six years ago, when Conte, Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp bucked up for their first full seasons in England. The galling reality for United is the top four in the Premier League are indisputably coached by the league's four best coaches.
United missed the boat with Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp and let Conte and Thomas Tuchel sail past. Belatedly, they have realised the elite clubs in England have a figurehead who spends as much time on the training pitch as in the manager's office.
Should Spurs get the point they need at nonentities Norwich on Sunday, then they automatically retain Harry Kane for one more year. Son Heung-min is a world-class wing-man turned point-man and Dejan Kulusevski has been an inspired signing, Rodrigo Bentancur not far behind.
Tottenham have recorded eight clean sheets in their last 13 Premier League fixtures (one fewer than United all season), only shipping more than one goal against Cristiano Ronaldo during that run. Enhancing Kane and Son, sound signings, a secure defence and Champions League football strengthen Conte's bargaining position with the miserly Daniel Levy.
Conte's short shelf life offers United a modicum of hope. He has a shorter fuse than Mourinho, dissatisfied after his sole summer transfer window with Spurs, and Conte's trophy room is ample evidence he will not settle for top four. Levy does.
The embattled Tuchel's position at Chelsea is not as watertight as when the club backed him over Romelu Lukaku's ill-timed interview in January. Roman Abramovich's association with Vladimir Putin has caused ructions at Chelsea beyond a protracted takeover by Todd Boehly that is now at risk of 'falling apart', according to ministers.
Tuchel has to lift a team that won so enthrallingly in the Bernabeu but lost on aggregate and held Liverpool across 420 minutes and three competitions yet lost both Wembley finals in a trophyless season. Tuchel has to rebuild a defence, potentially replace Lukaku and cut losses on the misfits, yet Chelsea are still not permitted to negotiate transfers and their government licence expires on May 31.
Tottenham spoke to Ten Hag last summer amid a slapdash process that ended with them appointing Nuno Espirito Santo, always a mismatch. He was sacked two days after a 3-0 defeat to United on October 30.
That was Solskjaer's last win and left United level on points with fourth-placed West Ham. The dawn was false.
