How Erik ten Hag caused a buzz among Manchester United staff at Old Trafford

A Manchester United staff member walked past the rows of seats in the press conference room with an Adidas rucksack bearing the initials "ETH". The bag was handed to Erik ten Hag upon his arrival at the Stretford End tunnel.

In a professional career spanning 33 years, Ten Hag had never visited Old Trafford before. He sat in the away dugout at the Etihad 13-and-a-half years ago, appropriately dressed in a black suit, white shirt and red tie, next to Steve McClaren.

Ten Hag pressed the flesh of so many people at the 112-year-old stadium on Monday he might have felt like the Queen during the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

As anyone who has embarked on a tour there, Old Trafford is a labyrinthine of corridors and Ten Hag's visit took in all four stands.

He visited staff in the east stand offices above the Megastore that overlook the Trinity statue, the museum and tour in the Sir Alex Ferguson stand, addressed the press in the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand and entered the plush home dressing room in the Stretford End.

Step outside the home dressing room and a few steps down the corridor is the manager's office, still off-limits to supporters guided around Old Trafford.

Inside, monochrome portraits of the United managers adorn the wall. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has already been framed and it is a wall Ten Hag studied pensively. He will not want to join it any time soon.

Ten Hag marvelled at the immortalisation of Best, Law and Charlton on the forecourt, his agent Kees Vos standing nearby, and respectfully took in the Munich clock and tunnel. Whilst embracing United's history, Ten Hag told staff he intends to create his own and not be burdened by it as some of his predecessors were.

On the pitch, the groundsman Tony Sinclair was