Many at Manchester United cannot continue in their roles after Liverpool disgrace

Even at one of Manchester's United's lowest ebbs in the last decade, Ed Woodward still had a sunny outlook. United were 12th and had just been beaten at Newcastle, their third defeat in their first eight Premier League games in 2019-20.

Some wondered whether United's malaise would affect the club's revenue. Like a well-trained politician, Woodward had a stock answer: Liverpool last won the title in 1990 and were still the second-biggest football club for shirt sales in Asia.

How apposite Anfield on Tuesday night was the culmination of the Woodward era. Or error. Liverpool's championship drought ended two seasons ago and they are on their perch again.

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United possibly thought they were out of the woods when Liverpool nearly won the league in 2013-14. Merely an aberration. But no, Liverpool recovered to become a model club for the elite, United the opposite. Two clubs separated by 32 miles are poles apart.

At full-time, most of the United players kept their distance from the Anfield Road's away end, pockmarked by vacant red seats glistening under the glare of the floodlights. Dean Henderson handed his shirt to a supporter and Marcus Rashford soon did likewise. Most of the substitutes applauded the United followers.

Most of those United fans who remained in situ applauded. They had chanted 'We'll support you ever more' and 'Forever and ever', only marring their otherwise impressive support with a heinous chant about the Hillsborough disaster.

Mutiny was absent. There was not an audible anti-Glazer chant and the only flash of palpable anger was at the sight of Paul Pogba trudging off in the 10th minute. Pogba was told where to go at Old Trafford on Saturday and at Anfield he