It might have taken a year of seemingly interminable negotiations, but buying into Manchester United was the easy bit for Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos. Now, following the sacking of Erik ten Hag, comes the difficult bit.
Ratcliffe and Ineos, who took over football operations from the Glazer family as part of their minority investment in the club at the end of last year, have proven that they can hire and fire.
In have come a new chief executive, Omar Berrada, a new sporting director, Dan Ashworth, and a new technical director, Jason Wilcox. Out have gone 250 staff as part of a major cost-cutting exercise, with legendary former manager and club ambassador Sir Alex Ferguson set to follow.
And they have been bold with other off-field decisions, such as engaging architects to design a new, 100,000-capacity home to replace the increasingly dilapidated Old Trafford – and even angling for state assistance to build a “Wembley of the North”.
But they botched a decision over Ten Hag’s future during the summer, when they held talks with potential replacements, including Thomas Tuchel, before belatedly backing the incumbent with a new contract. Less than four months later, that has proven to be a mistake.
Ratcliffe and Ineos can ill afford another one, yet succession planning has not been a great success at their other sporting outposts. Their cycling team, Ineos Grenadiers, has not won a Grand Tour since they took over in 2019 and they have got through five permanent managers in as many years at OGC Nice.
There are questions over the credentials of those hiring Ten Hag’s replacement. Berrada and Wilcox have never had to recruit a manager, while Ashworth has tended towards safe choices such as Gareth Southgate, Graham Potter and Eddie Howe with England, Brighton and Newcastle. For all their successes, this is new territory for Ratcliffe and Brailsford too.
Whatever his merits as a head coach, Ten Hag has been a useful shield against criticism for the United brains trust. Now that he is gone, the unforgiving glare of the spotlight will fall on Ratcliffe and his army of lieutenants.