Rio Ferdinand’s endorsement was immediate. Manchester United had only fired Erik ten Hag a few minutes earlier — an eventuality as delayed as it was predictable — and already Ferdinand had weighed the claims of the dozens of candidates to succeed him and come to his conclusion.

“Man like Ruud,” Ferdinand wrote on X, followed by a fire emoji. It should be pointed out here that Rio Ferdinand is 45 years old.

The Ruud in question, of course, was Ruud van Nistelrooy, employed most recently as an assistant coach in the dying embers of ten Hag’s reign but most famously as a striker of rare pedigree and remarkable productivity at the very peak of Manchester United’s glory years around the turn of the century.

It is entirely possible, of course, that Ferdinand’s assessment was based on a thorough analysis of van Nistelrooy’s senior managerial career so far: a spell in charge of PSV Eindhoven that brought victories in the Dutch Cup and Super Cup and a creditable second-place finish in the Eredivisie but did not (quite) last a single full season.

Perhaps Ferdinand had noted how van Nistelrooy helped develop young players of the caliber of Xavi Simons, Cody Gakpo and Jarrad Branthwaite. Maybe he noted how, that year, PSV scored more goals than any team in the Dutch top flight, including the eventual champion, Feyenoord.

Or, though it might be unfair to suggest it, Ferdinand was swayed by the fact that van Nistelrooy had been his teammate at Old Trafford for five seasons — before van Nistelrooy moved, with just a touch of rancor, to Real Madrid — and is therefore swaddled by the afterglow of United’s golden past.