There are staff at Manchester United who can prove to Sir Jim Ratcliffe he is wrong

When Sir Jim Ratcliffe spoke of a "missing culture" at Manchester United in February, he probably did not mean reviving Ed Woodward's compliant culture.

With the defenestration of Dan Ashworth, there are eerie parallels between chief executives past and present. Omar Berrada is surrounded by two fellow Manchester City alums. Woodward was flanked by two Bristol University alums.

As the Manchester Evening News revealed six weeks ago, Berrada drove United's approach for Ruben Amorim. Ashworth pushed for Gareth Southgate. From then on, Ashworth's face did not fit.

The vast majority of United supporters will breathe a sigh of relief that Ashworth was overruled. Ashworth is, or was, "clearly one of the top sporting directors in the world", according to Ratcliffe yet his support for Southgate was misguided.

READ MORE: I saw Ashworth getting escorted out of Old Trafford after leaving United

EXCLUSIVE: Ashworth pushed for Southgate amid Amorim move

Berrada has Jason Wilcox at the Carrington coalface to support Amorim and former City employee Toby Craig to oversee United's communications. The halcyon days of strolling around the Los Angeles sunshine feeling buoyant about United's chances this season feel an awfully long time ago.

There was plenty of buck-passing in Ratcliffe’s PR disasterclass with United We Stand when the current mess is on regimes past and present. The past doled out excessive five-year contracts to Luke Shaw and Marcus Rashford, frittered more than £150million on Casemiro and Antony and extended Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s contract only to sack him in the same year.

The present frittered millions on Joshua Zirkzee and Matthijs de Ligt, lost their nerve over Erik ten Hag’s position in May, extended his contract