'You don't need glasses' - Man Utd ignored and let perfect Ineos appointment slip through their fingers

Changes on and off the pitch at Manchester United are long overdue. Just ask Ralf Rangnick.

The former interim manager, who stepped into the dugout to bridge the gap between Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Erik ten Hag, compared what was needed at Old Trafford and beyond to open heart surgery. United have been on the waiting list for two years since his comments - and Rangnick's prognosis was right.

His impact on the training ground was limited. United did not get the upturn they wanted after handing the ever-popular Solskjaer his P45, but Rangnick's take on things behind the scenes might have been refreshingly unpopular.

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"You don't even need glasses to see and analyse where the problems are," said the German at a press conference after Ten Hag's then-impending arrival had been announced. "Now it's only about how we solve them."

"For me, it's not enough to do some minor amendments," Rangnick went on. "Some little issues here and there and cosmetic things. In medicine, you would say that this is an operation of the open heart. There are more things to be changed than some little things here and some minor things there, but this is the good thing."

The problems for United have been blindingly obvious for quite some time in those barren post-Sir Alex Ferguson years. However, putting the correct people in place to address them has not been quite so straightforward.

Rangnick opened up about what United needed, stressing the importance of a well-oiled footballing structure to complement the right manager. Whatever your thoughts on Ten Hag are, it would be reasonable to suggest a jury would not be required