Looking back at Erik ten Hag's first Manchester United press conference one year ago today, the first thing that hits you is how much his English has improved in 12 months.
Ten Hag's communications that day in a bustling Old Trafford press room were brief and occasionally stilted. His answers were often short and always to the point.
In the year since his communication has improved considerably. His answers in press conferences are often more engaging now and he carries the aura of a United manager.
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But maybe the first impressions were also accurate. Ten Hag was friendly, but he was also all business and he was direct and straight to the point. The United squad would probably recognise that assessment now.
May 23, 2022, was technically Ten Hag's first official day as United manager. His appointment had been confirmed a month earlier and the day before his visit to Old Trafford he had been at Selhurst Park to watch his new team limp to another dismal defeat.
United wanted to signal a new beginning so within 24 hours of their season ending, they were already looking forward. Ten Hag posed for pictures on the pitch and toured the facilities. He shook hands with everyone he met and made an impact.
He's kept that going. One year on there have been 60 competitive matches, 39 victories, one trophy, one more final to come and still a few embarrassing days to highlight there is work to be done. There has been £225million spent and the feeling that the 53-year-old might actually be United's best hope for a decade.
The trend is upward. Club Elo is a website that measures results in every game and the strength of opponents to rate where a team stands at any time. A year ago United sat 17th in their algorithm. Today they are 10th. In the Premier League, they have five more wins than last season with two games still to go.
But was any of what has happened on and off the pitch signposted a year ago? There might have been hints, but maybe the word that best describes Ten Hag this season is adaptability. From abandoning some principles after the defeat at Brentford to pivoting from Frenkie de Jong to Casemiro, he has been flexible this season.
In his first press conference he did stress that any manager had to adapt to the players at his disposal and in some instances he has clearly done that, even if it feels like a sticking plaster rather than a long-term solution.
On day one he spoke about the plan being "huge" and how important it was for players to stick to the process. That will chime with people who have seen him post-match after defeats at Brentford, Manchester City, Liverpool, Newcastle and others when he has lamented their failure to stick to the rules.
As befits a Dutch coach, Ten Hag is methodical. When he first spoke to the media he said several times he was still in the "process of analysing to set conclusions". He's since spoken about that analysis revealing a shortage of character and personality in the squad and the absence of a player like Casemiro.
In that first press conference, there were only questions directly about three players. There were words of encouragement for Harry Maguire and Donny van de Beek and a desire to work with Cristiano Ronaldo. What did he expect from the forward? "Goals".
At this stage, Ten Hag hadn't spoken to Ronaldo. It's a relationship that would turn sour quickly but there were hints of a disciplinarian streak in the new manager and he wouldn't make exceptions for a star player.
Maybe the most memorable, most replayed answer came when Ten Hag was asked about the era of Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp in the Premier League. "You will always see that an era can come to an end and I’m looking forward to battle with them," he said.
Can that era come to an end before they leave Manchester City and Liverpool? "I think, yeah". That hasn't happened yet, but it no longer feels like an era that will exclude United entirely.
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