Sir Jim Ratcliffe is relying on AI to highlight the best option to succeed Michael Carrick as manager of Manchester United, while there’s an embarrassing revelation about the billionaire’s interference in the day-to-day running of United.

Man Utd, as they largely have been for well over a decade now, are a shambles. The manager is underqualified, the players are underperforming, the fans are furious. Sound familiar?

It’s difficult to know where the blame lays for United’s downfall. Is it the ownership and their hand-picked directors, the out-of-his-depth manager, or the players who puff out their chests in interviews after shrinking on the pitch.

In the end, it’s the manager who usually carries the can, but according to The Athletic, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the Glazer family are where the real issue lays.

Their reporter, Laurie Whitwell, ran the rule over United’s problems and a revelation about Ratcliffe’s intervention in the physio room sums up the circus that is Manchester United.

He wrote: ‘What it once again underlined was that even if there is to be a new head coach, the same problems will surface, stemming all the way to the top, where the mood has been set for 21 years by the Glazer family, who have governed United from across the Atlantic at a cost to the club of more than £1billion. They are the foundations of this crumbling skyscraper.

‘Sir Jim Ratcliffe is also hugely culpable, with his unique brand of management guiding much of what happens at Carrington, where he once entered a physio room and offered his opinion on stretching methods having run the London Marathon.’

Man Utd using AI to help find next manager

The decision to stick with Michael Carrick for United’s Premier League clash with Bournemouth on Sunday has already been made. Beyond that, all bets are off.

There’s a difference of opinion at boardroom level around what profile of manager should take the reins…

Antonio Conte would say yes if the call comes, while Eddie Howe is also out of work and available to hire.

Brighton’s Fabian Hurzeler – perhaps the most progressive appointment and the one having the best season so far – has already turned down the opportunity, summing up how Man Utd’s appeal isn’t what it once was.

Others on United’s radar include Unai Emery and Julian Nagelsmann.

But per a separate update from The Athletic, United and Ratcliffe in particular will utilise AI to separate the wheat from the chaff in the lengthy list of managerial contenders.

They wrote: ‘Michael Sansoni, United’s director of data & AI, is involved in running the numbers [on potential candidates].

‘He is said to be growing in influence and has a good connection with Ratcliffe.’