Manchester United’s board have shown considerable patience to persist with Louis van Gaal for this long, but they must finally recognise what many of their supporters concluded some time ago — that the Dutchman is a busted flush who has to go. There is faith, but there is also blind faith, and the club will only be doing themselves more damage, in the short and longer-term, by sticking with a manager who, for all that early bravado and a much-trumpeted CV, is lost on so many levels.

José Mourinho has reportedly written a six-page letter to United explaining why he would be an ideal fit for the club, where they are going wrong and what he would change. The former Chelsea manager could have saved