The inside story of Manchester United’s dire season as Erik ten Hag offers surprise

Here are your Manchester United evening headlines for Monday, May 23.

"What do you make of Rangnick?" this correspondent messaged a former senior Manchester United staff member. The reply was a facepalm emoji. More recently, the same contact messaged to say United are 'in deep ****'.

Upon confirmation of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's sacking, the suspicion was United were tossing off their season before Christmas by appointing a caretaker manager and then an interim. 'Tossed it off' was a phrase a club legend messaged after the anodyne surrender at Everton in April.

READ MORE:Erik ten Hag breaks silence on Cristiano Ronaldo's Manchester United future

One Everton player told a confidant United's performance reminded him of the Biblical 4-0 Easter Sunday thrashing at Goodison Park in 2019. Another was surprised by how bad United were. United's beating at Brighton this month was reminiscent of Goodison three years ago.

Read Samuel Luckhurst's feature here.

There was a two-minute notice of Erik ten Hag's arrival and as soon as the door swung open, his entrance was expected. Ten Hag strode in merrily and glad-handed the nearest journalist sitting in the front row. That was unexpected.

Club staff had advised the dedicated correspondents to sit in the front rows and it soon became clear why. Ten Hag, dressed in a white shirt and summery sand-coloured suit with a pocket square, pressed the flesh with around a dozen journalists, most of them scheduled to cover Manchester United's pre-season tour of Thailand and Australia in July. The broad smile across Ten Hag's face never dropped.

To those sat further back, Ten Hag offered a wave and repeatedly assured it was 'nice to meet you all'. United could not wait to draw a line under a