Jadon Sancho is going against his own Manchester United promise

In every conflict since cavemen started scrapping over mammoth meat, each side has believed they are right and justified. Stepping down, relenting... apologising. Well, that's just admitting defeat. This is how it goes, a stand-off is reached with two stubborn parties unwilling to budge on their positions and everyone ends up losing.

The unstoppable force of Erik ten Hag is butting heads with the unmoveable object of Jadon Sancho and an impasse has been reached with nothing productive for Manchester United. Each side is right, in their own way.

Ten Hag has to be strong in the face of insubordination. He was honest in his own assessment of an underperforming player and said player then, in effect, called him a liar to millions on social media. If he doesn't apologise for that, why should he play?

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Sancho has a right to feel aggrieved. If he feels like he has been training as hard as he can, putting in 100 per cent effort, and then his senior who has all the power in the working relationship publically calls him out, then he has a right to defend himself. The defence is allowed to be as loud as the criticism. Why should he apologise without getting one first?

It's a fine line and it's easy to see why neither party wants to accept the blame. But Sancho is the one who is reneging on his promise.

It came in the last sentence of his social media post that has led to him being frozen out of the first team completely. It read: "I will continue to fight for this badge no matter what!"

But he isn't fighting for the club, no matter what. The what that's standing in the way is a simple one.