It's a year to the day since Sir Jim Ratcliffe co-signed a statement with The Glazers announcing that he'd bought a minority stake at Manchester United.

The Ineos announcement was met with trepidation from supporters - who almost universally wanted a full sale of the club. Ratcliffe officially began work to change United in his vision in February and since then, the Ineos founder has struggled to endear himself to supporters.

His cost-cutting measures on those near the bottom of the pyramid - not to mention increased ticket prices - have been particularly egregious. However, his thought process surrounding Erik ten Hag has led many to worry whether he knows how to run the football project.

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From the outside looking in, based on the facts readily available, the decision to hand Ten Hag a new contract only to sack him a few months later was strange. However, that The Telegraph indicates their search for the Dutchman's replacement began soon after his extension was agreed is damning.

If true, this shows that United's leaders had little faith in Ten Hag to succeed from the minute they had supposedly handed him a vote of confidence. The decision comes down to Ineos not having the right people in the boardroom by the time a decision was needed on the now-departed Dutchman's future.

But, if they were already working on plans for his successor - after Ten Hag signed his extension - why not have chosen to part ways immediately and allowed someone, perhaps Ruud van Nistelrooy, an extended period as an interim manager? It would have allowed Ratcliffe and co time to find the perfect successor while also saving them a lot of money in the process.

Having an interim manager would not have been ideal for the summer transfer window - but at least Ineos could have been controlling signings that fit their vision and how they envisioned their new head coach playing. Instead, they effectively gave Ten Hag the keys to a £200million war chest that was seemingly wasted as he left in October.

The knock-on effect is that Ruben Amorim is now left with limited, if any, funds to sign players in January, while he will be relying on player sales to get deals over the line. Sadly, this lack of key direction from Ineos this summer has summed up United's 2024 under Ratcliffe's ownership.