Ralf Rangnick has given Manchester United ideal chance to accelerate new manager search

There can be no sugar-coating the dismal nature of Manchester United's exit from the Champions League this week, though it did at least make the picture even clearer when it comes to forward planning.

United no longer have the faint excuse of delaying crucial decisions given there was the slight possibility of winning Europe's premier club prize this season, nor do they have any way of trying to twist this current season into one associated at all with any success.

The cold, hard truth is that United failed, having naively backed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. They had no contingency plan to replace him, and are now just as bad under the man who was elected to replace him on an interim basis.

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Following the exit from the Champions League club officials can now distance themselves from Ralf Rangnick as a long-term solution and insist he was never in the frame to get the permanent role at the end of the season. That might well have changed had the Premier League form improved and the club had reached a more respectable stage in cup competitions.

What should concern supporters is that Rangnick, the man intended to advise the club in regards to their next permanent manager, appears so out of the loop on the current plans.

"We haven’t spoken about it to be honest," he told reporters ahead of defeat to Man City earlier this month. "We have had one or two meetings with the head of scouting and two other people. I think you will understand that I will not speak about that in detail about the possible new manager, we haven’t spoken about it."

If those conversations haven't been held yet, then they have to be over the next fortnight, with United in a position to be able