They could flog the rump of their hotchpotch squad, bring in young, hungry replacements and revel in the novelty of a season dusting up the likes of Portsmouth, Bristol City and Millwall, goes the argument.

Leaving aside that there is absolutely no guarantee this poorly-run United would gain promotion at the first time of asking, as the club did when they last dropped in 1974, demotion to the second tier would be financially calamitous.

The terms of their deal with Adidas allow the club’s kit manufacturer to halve its annual £90 million (US$119 million) payment for any season United spend outside the Premier League, while television income would alarmingly plummet from the £206.8 million they raked in for 2025-26.

Already falling last season, commercial and sponsorship revenues would, surely, further dwindle. There would also be no chance of rivalling the £153.5 million matchday income taken last term.

United will receive no Champions League bounty next season, either, unless Pochettino, who delivered the only two trophies of his nearly 18-year managerial career during a spell shooting fish in a barrel with Paris Saint-Germain, masterminds the most improbable of triumphs in this year’s edition.

This is a club, remember, that has been loaded with £1.15 billion of debt by its despised owning Glazer family.

Nonetheless, while football’s murky financial regulations apply the squeeze on ambitious, cash-rich upstarts, United are allowed to splash out on players with impunity.

That they have invested with so little clarity and forethought, under a succession of managers, is one of the main reasons they are languishing 18th in the Premier League, one point from safety, with more than a quarter of the season gone.

This summer, £90 million was splurged on Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos, two midfielders built for Carrick’s possession-based football, but who lack the energy and mobility to adhere to Pochettino’s high-pressing, hard-running demands.

More than a year ago, Rio Ferdinand told the South China Morning Post that “[former interim boss] Ralf Ragnick’s comments about the club needing open-heart surgery cut deeper the longer time goes on”.

“The more we [United] keep changing managers, the more that statement will grow in relevance,” Ferdinand said, imploring his old club to stick with then boss Ruben Amorim.

The Portuguese was gone within three months, paving the way for ex-midfielder Carrick to come in as caretaker. He immediately inspired victories over Manchester City and Arsenal, and eventually secured Champions League qualification.

Still, the decision to award him only a two-year contract resembled the fudge Chelsea employed back in 2012, when they appointed Roberto Di Matteo on similar terms after he secured their first European title. The Italian was axed five months later, and Carrick has been tossed aside in equally quick time.

The medical procedure Ragnick evoked 4½ years ago, perhaps, no longer does justice to the grave situation of a club in danger of bleeding out.

In hindsight, Carrick never stood a chance. He was not given a back-up striker for physically fragile Benjamin Sesko this summer, nor a left-back to replace Luke Shaw, whose ongoing presence on the playing staff, 12 years and eight permanent and temporary managers after he was bought by Van Gaal, embodies United’s jumbled recruitment.

Diogo Dalot, signed by Mourinho, remains at Old Trafford, alongside multiple players purchased by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Eric ten Hag, Amorim and Carrick.

Carrick also appears to have had on his hands a mutinous, mardy bunch of players. Having been let-down in the transfer market, he probably did not mind that Lisandro Martinez felt emboldened to publicly criticise Jason Wilcox, the director of football, following a 2-0 Champions League defeat by Atletico Madrid last month.

Less welcome would have been the barbed comments from captain Bruno Fernandes, questioning Carrick’s tactics, following the subsequent 4-1 shoeing they received in Como.

In turn, Carrick blasted his team’s absence of “motivation, intention, purpose and intensity”, and accused them of choosing when they wanted to perform. That impression strengthened after United started playing at 2-0 down to beat Roma last week, then twice roused themselves from two goals behind to earn a ridiculous 4-4 draw with Aston Villa on Sunday.

The wild nature of that match sealed Carrick’s fate, but what hope for Pochettino to spark improvement?

Seven years ago, he left Tottenham Hotspur, the club where the Argentine truly established a world-class reputation, after becoming grumpy over his lack of say in transfers. Amorim aired similar grumbles at United, and matters evidently did not change for Carrick.

If Pochettino really is their man, Wilcox, along with Omar Berrada, the CEO, and flailing minority co-owner Jim Ratcliffe, must allow him to dictate player incomings and outgoings. Equally, he has to be given carte blanche to embed his aggressive and progressive tactics.

Certainly, there is nothing to suggest the three wise men should be trusted with those calls.

When Ratcliffe bought in 2½ years ago, he planned to introduce a club-led style of play, guarding against the stockpiling of individuals who become redundant following regime change.

That has proved as successful as his three-year plan to return United to the pinnacle of domestic and European football, while playing “the best football in the world”.

In truth, should the job he has openly courted for years rekindle his mojo, after an underwhelming spell at Chelsea and two moderate years managing the USA national team, it is not beyond reason to expect Pochettino to oversee quick progress.

Also apparently considered for the post following the respective dismissals of Solskjaer and Ten Hag,he will enjoy a significant spending advantage over rivals, other than United’s fellow traditional moneymaking machines Arsenal and Liverpool, thanks to the Premier League’s ill-conceived profit and sustainability rules.

Manchester United will always remain a draw for elite players, while their large, faithful fan base will steadfastly back Pochettino should they see a man working hard to effect change. Witness the prevailing support for Carrick as his reign crumbled.

Quite how endemic the Old Trafford inertia has become will probably become clear only after Pochettino has assembled something close to his preferred squad.

Given United’s current predicament, though, rooted in the relegation zone, following one win from 10 matches, thoughts about the future will have to wait.

It would have been so much more straightforward had he replaced Van Gaal or Mourinho but, as for Fury and Joshua in Cardiff next month, Pochettino is going to have to come out swinging.