But the challenge is to ensure any new coach would have the character, personality and temperament to handle the pressure of managing such a huge club and be able to work within a new, evolving structure, particularly as there is an awareness that there is not yet the robust ecosystem in place that the likes of City, Liverpool and Arsenal enjoy.

Other managers such as Gareth Southgate and Graham Potter, both of whom have been linked with United, are recognised as fantastic characters and team players but the questions there would revolve, among other things, around whether they had the personality to command that credibility with the dressing room.

Thomas Tuchel, who is due to leave Bayern Munich at the end of the season, is openly accepted to be a top level coach. But recent experiences at Chelsea and Bayern have shown he can be a difficult character and, while there is an acceptance that all the best managers are and should be challenging, United are keen to ensure that whatever happens next does not unsettle things even more.