Even at one of Manchester's United's lowest ebbs in the last decade, Ed Woodward still had a sunny outlook. United were 12th and had just been beaten at Newcastle, their third defeat in their first eight Premier League games in 2019-20.
Some wondered whether United's malaise would affect the club's revenue. Like a well-trained politician, Woodward had a stock answer: Liverpool last won the title in 1990 and were still the second-biggest football club for shirt sales in Asia.
How apposite Anfield on Tuesday night was the culmination of the Woodward era. Or error. Liverpool's championship drought ended two seasons ago and they are on their perch again.
Read more: United player ratings vs Liverpool
United possibly thought they were out of the woods when Liverpool nearly won the league in 2013-14. Merely an aberration. But no, Liverpool recovered to become a model club for the elite, United the opposite. Two clubs separated by 32 miles are poles apart.
At full-time, most of the United players kept their distance from the Anfield Road's away end, pockmarked by vacant red seats glistening under the glare of the floodlights. Dean Henderson handed his shirt to a supporter and Marcus Rashford soon did likewise. Most of the substitutes applauded the United followers.
Most of those United fans who remained in situ applauded. They had chanted 'We'll support you ever more' and 'Forever and ever', only marring their otherwise impressive support with a heinous chant about the Hillsborough disaster.
Mutiny was absent. There was not an audible anti-Glazer chant and the only flash of palpable anger was at the sight of Paul Pogba trudging off in the 10th minute. Pogba was told where to go at Old Trafford on Saturday and at Anfield he was directed through explicit sign language.
Everything everyone knew about this spineless and spiritless United squad was confirmed in English football's biggest game, historically at least. You could sense the fear the moment the team news dropped. If United were offered the forfeit match option as gamers are on Fifa, they would have accepted it.
United were without their three most important outfield players, their midfield comprised of two out of contract players and Phil Jones was back. Jones was the least of United's worries.
From Captain Marvel to Captain Calamity. Whenever Harry Maguire drops his robotic PR image, he has a tendency to display characteristics unbecoming of captaining United. The ear-cupping celebration against the might of Andorra was the smoking gun and on the eve of the Liverpool game he had the gall to defend his disasterclass of a season.
"I wouldn't be playing every game for Manchester United in the starting eleven if I'd been playing bad every game," he told Sky. "There's a reason why both managers have put me in the starting eleven every game."
Maguire was briefly dropped by Ralf Rangnick in January and only regained his place as Victor Lindelof's home was burgled with his petrified wife and children sheltering in a panic room. Lindelof's leave allowed Maguire to start against West Ham.
More embarrassing than Maguire's soundbite was his management's tweet on Monday afternoon. A 38-second video showcased five measured passes, edited with amplified with crowd noise, against Norwich, accompanied by target and clapping emojis. This is what the United captaincy has been reduced to: over-celebrating passes against Norwich.
Generations change but standards and principles should be sacrosanct at United. Wayne Rooney is represented by the same agency as Maguire and must recoil at his stablemate's approach.
Rooney once stuck an A4 sheet up at Carrington that read in block capitals, 'NO PHONES IN THE GYM', warning the fine was £500. A small, but important act that maintained disicpline.
For the Etihad derby in March 2016, the injured Rooney travelled with the squad and delivered a pre-match speech in the dressing room. United won 1-0.
Maguire is not unique as a thin-skinned footballer. The good-vibes-only culture among United's millennials is why they are failing and the club has wilfully eroded the authority of the manager. Constructive criticism is anathema. Past teammates noticed how badly Rashford responded to it from Jose Mourinho and more than one player has taken umbrage with this correspondent's player ratings.
Whichever vintage of United supporter you speak to, they cannot recall a team more uncaring and Erik ten Hag has to have carte blanche . Maguire has his allies in the dressing room but that should not discourage Ten Hag from stripping him of the captaincy.
Should Maguire be that crestfallen he seeks a transfer, then so be it. Everyone in that squad is expendable and no one is irreplaceable.
Heads have rolled in the scouting department, with Marcel Bout and Jim Lawlor gone after a combined 24 years of mostly failed signings. United must be as merciless with the players.
It is more by luck than judgement an exodus is imminent, with six players out of contract. Nobody has any faith in United proactively ushering players towards the door, least of all when Woodward's successor, Richard Arnold, hails from an identical background.
Arnold will be hands-off in the running of the football club, though. Arnold described Alexis Sanchez's piano-playing unveiling as 'iconic' and measured the success of Odion Ighalo by social media impressions. Arnold now needs to prove he is unlike those at United who are sensitive and too easily unsettled by criticism.
He shouldn't struggle selling shirts, though.
