In his recent interview with The Times’ new podcast, The Business, Ratcliffe explained how the operation at United worked.

He now owns nearly 30% of the club after completing his part-purchase last year. Although they have an input, the Glazer family are letting Ratcliffe make all the major decisions.

“We’re local, and they’re the other side of the pond,” he said.

“That’s a long way away to try and manage a football club as big and as complex as Manchester United. We’re here with feet on the ground.

“They come to the board meetings. We sit down and we talk about things.”

When asked what would happen if the Glazers told him to sack Amorim, Ratcliffe replied: “It absolutely wouldn’t happen because it’s just a good working relationship.”

The details of the Ratcliffe investment includes a ‘drag on clause’, in place from August 2025 that means the 72-year-old would have to sell if the Glazers accepted an offer in excess of the $33 a share he paid for the club.

Ratcliffe referred to the clause when he spoke at a news conference in 2024, saying: “I don’t think we’re going to be taking the legal agreements out of the bottom drawer.”

In the latest set of financial accounts, released last month, it states there are additional restrictions in place to February 2027, including buying another club and paying dividends between the two parties. However, one of three stated exceptions is if they are ‘in connection with a change of control transaction’.

Yet Ratcliffe’s words do not suggest there are issues in his relationship with the Glazer family that would be so serious as they are negotiating behind his back, quite the reverse in fact.

It all brings us back to the initial post and subsequent denials. We might be waiting a long time for those answers.