Dan Ashworth followed Collette Roche through the press conference room twenty minutes after full-time on Saturday. Ms Roche, the chief operating officer, offered a polite “hello” to a colleague sitting in the front row. The grim-faced Ashworth avoided eye contact and did not break his stride.

In retrospect, perhaps Ashworth was frogmarched out. He was still clad in his Paul Smith club suit and a security official walked behind him. He was not even permitted an exit through the directors' entrance or Stretford End tunnel.

It was a little over three months ago that the former sporting director Ashworth optimistically said in the Old Trafford boardroom that he “liked” the Manchester United squad. There is little to like about it now.

Ashworth, who started on July 1, and chief executive Omar Berrada chose a careful time to field questions from those of us who cover United minutely - two Premier League games into the season and before kick-off against Liverpool. Five hours after they held court with us, United’s unravelling had begun with a 3-0 thumping.

READ MORE: Manchester United break silence on Dan Ashworth departure with 41-word statement

READ MORE: Dan Ashworth makes stunning exit from Manchester United after five months

After that briefing, Ms Roche escorted Ashworth through Old Trafford's labyrinthine corridors from the east stand to the directors' lounge. Ashworth never truly navigated his way around United.

He sat with Sir Dave Brailsford and Jason Wilcox in the bleachers of the Wallis Annenberg Stadium to monitor pre-season training in July. After one session, the trio held a lengthy conflab with Erik ten Hag. "How did that go?" Ashworth bluntly asked Ten Hag. Not well enough. Both are gone.

Ashworth’s sudden departure is another blotch on the Ineos copybook. They identified Ashworth as the best-in-class pick for sporting director last year and waited it out with Newcastle United over several months while he was on gardening leave.

United's courting lasted longer than Ashworth's sporting director stint. He lasted five months and six days. It is not just players and managers whose reputations are shattered by United.

A source said things "had not been rosy" for several weeks. Another source who deals with United opined there are "so many cooks and egos in the structure that it felt like it was destined to have someone leave".

Some have speculated how long Berrada will last after the unprecedented ticket price hikes and now the sudden departure of Ashworth. Berrada, Ashworth and chief communications officer Toby Craig arrived in the same vehicle at Ipswich two weeks ago.

United were slower to react to the Ashworth news than their defenders at a corner. Easy like Sunday morning. Radio silence until 10.30am. Then a 41-word statement that AI might have constructed.

Club sources say it was a difficult decision and that Ashworth had conducted himself with integrity and decency during a transitional period. Having built a new structure, United seemingly decided a better structure was required.

Ashworth was supposed to lead the structure. He admitted the summer was an eye-opener and he had planned to scrutinise various departments from September. Ineos will come under the most scrutiny. Berrada, sat to Ashworth's right, conceded United would "make mistakes". He wasn't kidding.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe is yet to speak to colleagues on the Manchester patch. He may wait even longer now. His interview with United We Stand will be remembered for one word - Fulham - rather than the forthright views on recruitment and the “mediocre” state of the club.

Ratcliffe’s assertion the price of a ticket to watch United should trump a seat at Craven Cottage evoked memories of Sir Alex Ferguson crassly telling some supporters to “go and watch Chelsea” in 2005. Ratcliffe, of course, did. He had a season ticket at Stamford Bridge.

Ineos’s office in Knightsbridge is two goalframes away from an entrance to Harrods and Ratcliffe owns a pub in Belgravia Square. He and United's Ineos cabal are ferried around by the luxurious firm HR Carriages Mayfair. Ratcliffe is now bringing London prices to Trafford Park.

Tickets in Fulham’s new Riverside Stand are as expensive as £85. £66 “takes the p**s”, as United matchgoers acerbically put it again yesterday. It could get worse.

Andy Mitten, the UWS editor, articulately challenged Ratcliffe, who seemed as stumped as a New Zealand batsman. He and Ineos will try to dismiss the ticket-price issue as a storm that will blow over, that it only affects a minority. A colleague who headed outside for the pre-match protest against Everton was underwhelmed and suggested there were more fans queuing for the ticket office.

Yet online interest in Ratcliffe’s dynamic pricing is immense and not all fan issues are due to the broad church that follows United. Ratcliffe was always going to have to make unpopular decisions but it has come at the cost of staff morale and now supporters are brazenly branding him a “c**t”.

Ratcliffe's enduring quote from five years ago is that United were "the dumb money". They still are. Ashworth is another former employee walking out with a pay-off.