Even an elite coach would surely struggle at Old Trafford amid the executive chaos and with an unfit, uneven squad

In January 2014 the 13th series of Celebrity Big Brother aired in the UK, the show so popular that its run time was extended by five days before a public vote anointed Jim Davidson the winner. Then, two years later when Brexit happened, people wondered where their tolerant country had gone, lamenting the ephemeral spirit of London 2012 as though the 2011 riots were some kind of fever dream, not a desperate response to decades of structural and institutional racism exacerbated by the cruelty of unnecessary austerity.

The truth is that if security is quickly upended, it was built on quicksand to begin with. Which brings us to Manchester United, easing effortlessly from an uplifting third-place finish to some of the worst football in their history.

Leaving out his captain was doomed to fail but so are the club under the current leadership and the fans at Old Trafford know that all too well

Dropping your captain, who has held the team together for most of the past five years, is a bold move from a man whose job is on the line. It was very much a make-or-break decision from Michael Carrick to leave out Bruno Fernandes against Bournemouth. It did not work and Carrick knew the consequences if it failed and will probably pay the price for it, but he should not be alone.

Carrick said the decision to drop the Portuguese playmaker was purely based on football reasons but criticising his manager after the desperate defeat to Como cannot have helped. Clearly Carrick disagreed with his captain’s comments on the lack of pressing in the Champions League fixture. It was somewhat telling that Lisandro Martínez kept his place despite pointing out the director of football, Jason Wilcox, was a hindrance to the club the previous week.

Director of football is tarnished by recruitment record and Amorim stint but has received glowing review from above

Lisandro Martínez is not naive. At 28, he has experienced plenty in football and knows the causes of success and failure. He has a World Cup winner’s medal, whereas Jason Wilcox has overseen the latest period of mediocrity at Manchester United, during which the focus has fallen more on the team’s performances than the wider reasons behind it.

Martínez was not solely speaking for himself when, after United’s defeat at Atlético Madrid, he strongly criticised Wilcox. His views are shared by others at United frustrated by the output from above and who “expect” more from a director of football. Wilcox knows he is under pressure because the inadequate results cannot all be pinned on Michael Carrick, who is working with a squad unable to cope with the rigours of challenging at the top of the Premier League and facing Europe’s elite.

Our cartoonist on Manchester United’s billionaire joint-owner showing a startling lack of self-awareness

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Former charity worker tells Big Brue festival in Somerset of the strange comforts that helped her during imprisonment

It is a TV show about women confined to prison in the US, but Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe found watching Orange is the New Black with her fellow inmates a strange comfort after smuggling episodes into her Iranian jail cell, downloaded on to an illegal USB stick.

The British-Iranian former charity worker was detained in 2016 for more than five years and kept in the notorious Evin prison in Tehran.

Co-owner of Manchester United says Britain is in decline because of high taxes and immigration

The co-owner of Manchester United Sir Jim Ratcliffe has described the UK as being a country “on the slide” from the days when it had “the greatest empire in the world”.

Ratcliffe, who founded petrochemicals giant Ineos, and has resided in Monaco, which has a relaxed tax regime, since 2020, said Britain is in decline because of high taxes and immigration.

Alistair Burt speaks candidly about difficulties of tackling complex cases as families express concern over mandate

The special envoy for British citizens detained overseas has spoken about the difficulties he faces in his new role, as families express concern over the position’s mandate in complex consular cases.

In his first public engagement, Alistair Burt, the former Conservative Middle East minister, spoke candidly about the difficulties and limitations of the new appointment, made following years of mounting criticism of how the Foreign Office handled the cases of British citizens detained overseas.

Son-in-law of former United player is among 1,100 fans forced to give up prime seats under cash-boosting plans

A Manchester United fan said he feels “helpless and hopeless” after being evicted from the seat his family have held since just after the second world war to make way for £300-a-head VIPs.

Tony Riley, whose father-in-law played for United under Sir Matt Busby, is among 1,100 supporters forced to move under cash-boosting plans overseen by Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

• Ben Ainslie and Ineos ended partnership last year

• Statement says boat used in 2024 ‘belongs to Ineos’

Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos Group is taking legal action against Sir Ben Ainslie over the boat built for the 2024 America’s Cup.

Ratcliffe and Ainslie worked closely together across two cycles of the famous sailing competition, culminating in a historic but ultimately unsuccessful challenge for the title 18 months ago.