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There were a few obvious clangers, errors of judgement, even in the incredible reign of Sir Alex.

Selling Jaap Stam was generally accepted as a big mistake. And, how Manchester United could have used the thrust of Paul Pogba from midfield over the past few seasons of pedestrian and overly-cautious football from the engine room.

But we would argue that, by not making a move for Jose Mourinho to come in as manager, the club is making its biggest mistake in a decade.

Not since the Glazers got through the door and put the club hundreds of millions of pounds in debt has there been such a glaring error of judgement.

Let’s not kid ourselves here. Manchester United is currently a sinking ship. Ed Woodward can privately try to sugarcoat the situation in any way he likes but Louis van Gaal surely hasn’t performed to the standards that the executive vice-chairman had hoped when he signed him up. Let’s remind ourselves of what Woodward said at the time:

“He’s got incredible energy and very importantly he likes attacking football. If you remember the Barcelona team [he managed] in the late ’90s, who played incredible, attacking football, and those games we had against them in ’98/99, that’s the kind of football Manchester United fans love. It’s part of our DNA,”

Manchester United are slowly drifting off the pace. And the standards are dropping to a point where no one inside or outside the club would give LvG’s team a hope of winning the league anymore. Indeed many Manchester United fans felt happy with a 3-3 draw against a team in the relegation zone who had lost their last 4 games on the bounce and not scored a goal.

There was also a tame exit from Europe and who knows when Manchester United will be back at the top table of The Champions League at this rate?

There are rumoured fears at the club that Jose Mourinho is not the right character for a club steeped in tradition. But this problem pales in significance compared to what the next few years might look like if Jose doesn’t come in.

At this point, Manchester United would actually be exceedingly lucky to be able to bring in a man who almost guarantees results. It won’t be long before he is snapped up by another elite side if United don’t move for him. And with one or two more years at this current level, would a man of that calibre even want the job?

The romantics would like to see Ryan Giggs manage the team. But with no managerial experience this would be yet another huge risk on the part of the club.

Surely now they need results to take them back into Europe and back up the league.

LvG isn’t delivering and, if Jose gets another job elsewhere, who knows when Manchester United will find another world-class manager?

6th in the league, 2 wins in 11 and out of The Champions League at the first stage. When was that ever acceptable for Manchester United?

Ed Woodward is paid to make tough decisions. He clearly likes Louis van Gaal but he must act in the best interests of the club or risk a long-term abyss.