Manchester United's return to the United States in 2023 will be their first tour across the pond since the disastrous Jose Mourinho trip five summers ago.
United's Portuguese manager cut a miserable figure in 2018, declaring he'd learnt nothing about his squad, criticising referees, telling fans they'd wasted their money and watching the Reds lose 4-1 to rivals Liverpool. It was a nightmare from start to finish.
But America does not mean awful. While Mourinho's trip was marred in misery, Erik ten Hag could do worse than cast a look back to 2010. Then, under Sir Alex Ferguson, United went Stateside and laid the groundwork for a Premier League title win and a Champions League final appearance.
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United had not visited the States since 2004 when they returned under Ferguson off the back of a season where they finished second in the Premier League, lost in the last eight of the Champions League but won the League Cup. It was something of a surprise that Ferguson's men had waited so long to cross the pond.
Following the 2004 trip, the legendary Scottish manager declared he 'couldn't be more pleased' with how the trip went, so it was no surprise that Ferguson was in similarly high spirits about the prospect of returning.
"It's a very easy country to start with. Of course to speak the language is always a help," he said on arrival. "It's a very comfortable country, I think, for a football team to go there and the facilities are very good there and improving all the time. If you see the stadiums we are playing in are fantastic. There is a big drive [in the United States to make] soccer, as they call it, into a more essential part of the American sport because as we all know they invented basketball, baseball, the American football."
A 28-man squad departed Manchester including big names; Gary Neville, Dimitar Berbatov, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Edwin van der Sar. Unlike Mourinho's trip in 2018, United did not lack firepower or star attractions for their pre-season despite it coming just a month after the World Cup.
Over the course of two weeks in July, the Reds took on five opponents across Canada, the US and Mexico. First up for United was Celtic in a humid Toronto.
Berbatov, Danny Welbeck and Tom Cleverley found the net as the Reds beat the Scottish Premiership side 3-1. Post-match, the relief from Ferguson was clear for all to see.
"The first game is one you want to get out of the road because fitness comes into it, as does the time you give to your players," he explained. "I was pleased as some of the performances were good. We try to get the preparation to a point where they want to want to start playing games. There was a little bit of boredom in the training yesterday.
"They had seven days at Carrington, four days in Chicago; they were desperate for a game. The one thing pre-season brings on is the desire to start playing games. No-one likes pre-season. It does not matter how good it is. Nobody enjoys it because it is rough and tough. It is the hard bit of the game. Thankfully we are on that route of playing."
Next on the agenda was a trip to Philadelphia Union. Gabriel Obertan scored the only goal of the match as United won 1-0.
While the result was by no means ground reaking, Ferguson took the opportunity afterwards to praise the 44,213 supporters in attendance. "There was a more United atmosphere for us tonight," he declared.
"In the six years since we we were last here there is more appreciation of the game from the fans in what is happening on the field. It is an indication of the progress there is in American football."
These comments were a far cry from United's Mourinho critiquing the American fans for bothering to show up. A youthful United suffered defeat to 10-man Kansas City Wizards before the Reds played their final opponents in the USA, the MLS All-Stars team. It ended in a 5-2 victory and before the game, Ferguson spoke highly of the talent on show in America.
"The progress is obvious," he explained. "We realised that in the game against Philadelphia and just as much against Kansas City. There's a massive improvement in the organization and standard of play. That would be the reason I think they're ready to play the best teams in Europe now."
It was a seal of approval for football in America and opened the floodgates for other big clubs to travel out for summer tours. Ferguson embraced the opportunity and fostered a positive environment ahead of the new campaign. Ten Hag has achieved the latter in his time at Old Trafford and can capitalise on it further come the summer.
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