Masaud

@henrywinter Henry the absence of expertise has surely plugged a number of gapping holes. My belief that the lack of oversight on all of ETH’s purchases have taken the team so far back. I doubt a single player would make any top 4 teams . Trust the knights as we did before.

Anyone who thinks that Ineos, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sir Dave Brailsford are the problem at Manchester United has not been paying attention to how the Glazers let the club slide as a footballing force. I’ve never met the Ineos knights but I’ve covered the Glazers since their takeover in 2005 and I know which ones I’d rather trust the footballing direction of United with. United have a proper football structure now, put into place by Ineos. Their new footballing executives, experienced football men like Dan Ashworth, are acting decisively in their pursuit of Ruben Amorim from Sporting to galvanise underperforming players. Ineos obviously had private doubts about Erik ten Hag as Ratcliffe sounded out potential successors in June, including Thomas Tuchel; when that, inevitably, became public knowledge, Ten Hag was undermined. That was a touch of naivety by Ineos in how football works and leaks, but their doubts about Ten Hag were understandable. Ineos then listened to the fans’ mood after the FA Cup final and kept Ten Hag. They gave him £200m to spend with little improvement to the team. The football structure put into place by Ineos took proper shape only in July: Ashworth started work as sporting director on July 1, director of global talent Christopher Vivell on July 4, CEO Omar Berrarda on July 13. Of course, it’s natural that Ashworth and Berrarda will have formed thoughts about the way ahead for United while on gardening leave but the action fully began in mid-July. United have been crying out for a proper structure, the likes of which all serious clubs have. And it needs remembering that the football structure formed by Ratcliffe and Brailsford has been up and running for only three months. When it became even more clear that United were continuing to decline further under Ten Hag, and that results and performances were unacceptable, the experienced football men in the new structure moved for an exciting replacement in Amorim. The 39-year-old has all the presence, communication skills and commitment to football with energy and identity that Ten Hag lacked. Of course, Ten Hag similarly arrived with a strong reputation. The pressure of the United job, living up to expectations, can wear managers down. For too long, and until he'd lost his way, Ten Hag didn’t have a proper football structure around him to support and guide him. Amorim, assuming dates and compensation are fully sorted, will do. It will be interesting to see whether Amorim's title is head coach or manager and the extent of his influence over recruitment, and how much of it will be shaped by his preferred 3-4-3. The squad’s clearly not good enough and Ten Hag is partly responsible for that. Recruitment has to be better, not only in ability but in strength of character. The newly-formed football structure has enough experience to improve United’s success at recruitment. Ineos would have deserved criticism if Ratcliffe and company hadn’t formed a football structure and filled the void carelessly created by the Glazers. Ineos have appointed well in Ashworth and company, who have acted decisively in their pursuit of Amorim. #MUFC

Anyone else completely miss the northern lights in the UK? Can’t share a picture of the sky… but here’s a cute dog #Winnie ❤️

@haveigotnews Is it a gender neutral hair cut now?

Brexit crisis: David Mellor says he’s "never been more embarrassed and humiliated", although his hairdresser insists that’s what he asked for.

@themichaelowen cough cough apart from Torres, shevchenko, Zhirkov to name a few🙄

@BBCSport why do 185 people 'like' this???

@GaryLineker surely a tangible steak??

@TVP_Aylesbury does PC Kingham work in special branch? #sawyer