There is a tedious cycle at Manchester United whenever they fail to meet expectations on the pitch. Blame the manager, sack the manager, hire a new manager, sign big names, fail to deliver. Rinse and repeat.
United's exit from the Champions League on Tuesday night once again raised questions about the man currently in charge of the club, himself a short-term fix who was only appointed because there was no plan from above to cope when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer — a man they blindly backed in hope — failed to meet expectations.
With no match for two-and-a-half-weeks and no chance of fresh silverware at Old Trafford this season, United are fully in damage limitation mode, hoping to somehow scrape over the line in the 'race' for fourth-place to at least save themselves financially with the Champions League pot of gold that would be their reward.
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Unless they are at risk of losing money, United appear happy to just stagnate. This is a club which is reactive rather than proactive. This is a club whose issues stem right from the very top.
There can be no denying that hiring the right manager this summer is still of huge importance but right now the two leading candidates are Mauricio Pochettino; who has underachieved with Paris Saint-Germain this season, or Erik ten Hag; who does not guarantee success and who was knocked out of the Champions League by Benfica on Tuesday night.
In an ideal world, a proven winner at an elite club in the modern era like Thomas Tuchel or Luis Enrique would be the man for the job, though once again, there are no guarantees of success given the hierarchy above them.
The success of United's next permanent manager will rely on them being given full authority to reshape the football side of the business however they seem fit. If that isn't the case, then they will never overtake Man City and Liverpool, clubs where the manager is the single most important figure.
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Darren Fletcher's booking on Tuesday night was just about the most noteworthy thing he has done all season as technical director. Ralf Rangnick even admitted last month that he does 'not really know' what Fletcher's precise role is at the club. It is further evidence of the lack of clarity and responsibility, which leaves United in such a muddied mess.
The appointment of Richard Arnold as Ed Woodward's successor was another predictable appointment that stunk of a club looking for the safest option. He deserves time to prove he's the right candidate for the job, but there is a real sense that there was never anyone else who stood a serious chance of taking the role.
Then, at the top of the tree, are the owners. Tom Brady has attended as many games at Old Trafford in the last two-and-a-half years as the six Glazer siblings have combined. When the perception of every United supporter is of owners who only care about money, it is very hard to alter the narrative that on-field success is of secondary importance to the club.
Even then, there have been countless failures that are not solely down to the owners. While there are huge question marks about the way in which the club has been run under Glazer ownership — who have taken substantial dividend payments from the club without injecting any of their own money — it is a hard fact that United's gross transfer spending has been £1.4 billion over the past decade.
Only City and Chelsea have spent more, though they both have plenty of reward for it and are stacked with talent that hasn't been wasted by poor coaches and reckless transfer policy.
United are a unique and complex mess of how not to run a football club, blessed with an inconsistent, but talented, squad that can produce moments of magic to briefly inject false optimism and a sense of unwarranted self-belief.
Hiring a glamorous new manager and spending big on a central midfielder will likely fuel further false hope of a genuine shot at the title next season, but unless serious structural change is implemented above, United will find themselves back in this very situation in the near-future.
