A culture of mediocrity has set in at Manchester United, and it has nothing to do with manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. In many ways, Solskjaer is merely a victim of the erosion of standards and expectancy caused by the club's owners, the Glazer family, and their senior executives at Old Trafford.
Neither the Glazers nor Ed Woodward, the outgoing executive vice-chairman, were at Old Trafford on Sunday as Solskjaer suffered what he described as his "darkest day" in football, with United humiliated 5-0 by bitter rivals Liverpool, and their absence from their team's biggest domestic game of the season epitomised the apathy at the top of the club.