It is a mark of what a sorrowful environment Manchester United has become, a place of mournful noises, clanking chains, shouts through the wall, that the only idea to have met with near-unanimous approval in the past few months was the prospect of bulldozing Old Trafford into the ground and starting over.
There are at least some notes of comfort before the Premier League meeting with Liverpool on Tuesday night. First, the game is at Anfield, where United players being jeered by the crowd represents a return to everyday normality. And second, there has been something comforting of late in the public statements of Ralf Rangnick, whose time as interim manager has evolved into a kind of soft-pedalled trauma therapy.
