The most convincing argument for keeping Erik ten Hag in charge at the end of last season was that he had not yet had the opportunity to work in an elite sporting structure at Manchester United. And if you wanted to be mischievous, you could say he still hasn't done it.

Not only because 14 games at the start of the 2024/25 season probably doesn't represent much of an “opportunity”, but also because top sports structures generally don't reward a manager with a contract extension and then sack him just four months later.

Perhaps this is an unkind assessment of co-owner INEOS's previous track record. Finally, there was a summer transfer window in which most of the priorities were addressed, progress was made on plans to redevelop Old Trafford Stadium and Carrington training ground, and several highly-regarded senior executives were appointed to a new-look hierarchy.

But whether to stand by Ten Hag or forego it has been the most important question for United's management team to answer since minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe finally got the INEOS deal in February.

And the dismissal of Ten Hag – broke through on Monday The athlete – means that signing him to keep him at the helm at the end of last season will be seen as a mistake, and a costly one at that.

Ten Hag's days appeared to be numbered in May after a recommendation to change coach was made at a senior management meeting in Monaco in the weeks leading up to the FA Cup final. United held talks with potential suitors, the details of which overshadowed preparations for this game at Wembley.

When talks with their preferred candidates stalled, resulting in the improbable victory over Manchester City in the final, United decided to stay rather than turn away. However, given the chaotic nature of their maneuvers, giving Ten Hag an extension was necessary to show confidence in an undermined manager.

Ten Hag was never Ratcliffe's man at United (Manchester United via Getty Images)

After a summer of cost-cutting that resulted in the loss of 250 staff, United will now have to pay their outgoing manager significantly more compensation than they would have had this happened in the summer.

The result is that United became one of the last Premier League clubs to decide who will be in the dugout this season and are now the first to make a change. And they are doing so shortly after spending more than £200m on targets endorsed by Ten Hag in a summer transfer window.

Despite all the positive steps taken in some departments, the fact that United's newly installed hierarchy had to reverse the single most important decision to date can only be seen as an early blot on the INEOS playbook.

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Meanwhile, the Glazer family will largely evade an investigation into the failure of a managerial appointment made under them – their fifth permanent appointment since Sir Alex Ferguson's resignation 11 years ago – while retaining 69.1 per cent of the club.

That was, of course, part of the deal when Ratcliffe paid £1.3 billion to take control of football operations at Old Trafford, and perhaps he can now understand why the Florida-based siblings accepted so readily. But with great responsibility comes great power and despite the mistakes made in managing Ten Hag's departure, it seriously marks the beginning of United's INEOS-led era.

How quickly and effectively the 2024-25 season can be saved is now up to Ratcliffe and his appointees. It will be a test of how elite the sports structure created actually is and how well prepared it was for a scenario that – quite honestly – many expected.

In fairness to the United hierarchy, the biggest mistake of all would have been to succumb to the sunk cost fallacy and stay with Ten Hag anyway. While the optics of this firing aren't great, they at least recognized that recent results and performance were far more damaging and required action.

United executives (from left) Ratcliffe, Sir Dave Brailsford, Omar Berrada, Dan Ashworth, Jason Wilcox and Sir Alex Ferguson (Michael Regan/Getty Images)

Ten Hag's pleas to show more patience and withhold judgment until the end of his third season as coach ignored the fact that he was already on loan. The club now changed course early enough in the season for a permanent or interim successor to turn things around.

Although United are just seven points clear of the relegation zone after nine games, they are only seven points behind fourth place. Two and a half months of the season have been lost, with just three league wins to show against Fulham, Southampton and Brentford, but there is still time to put things right.

The process of securing a replacement must now be smooth and decisive. This time there was no such public speed dating – perhaps a sign that people have learned from the mistakes of the spring.

And once a replacement is found, they will be appointed by INEOS. The new structure, which Ratcliffe described as critical above all else, will be fully implemented – virtually every senior executive and member of the coaching staff will have a new face, right down to the person standing on the sidelines.

Because even if the decision to sack Ten Hag was clouded by this summer's stay of execution, the fact that he was still not Ratcliffe's manager is at least somewhat relieved. This was always a marriage of convenience, heading inexorably towards divorce, trying to hold together for the sake of the children. Ten Hag was ultimately someone else's choice, which could ultimately be passed off as someone else's mistake.

This will not be the case for his successor.

And based on the work of this successor, fuller and fairer assessments of the INEOS-led era at Old Trafford can and will be made.

After reversing the first major management decision made under their watch, United's senior management must now make another.

This time it's theirs and theirs alone.

This time they have to get it right.

(Top photos: Getty Images; Design: Dan Goldfarb)