The international break provides calm for some but the circus at Manchester United rolls on

"My best moment? I have a lot of good moments but the one I prefer is when I kicked the hooligan."

The new football season has barely started but we’ve already been abruptly halted by an elongated international break.

For the teams who have flown out of the blocks the sojourn comes at a frustrating juncture, stalling early impetus and leaving key players exposed to injury and fatigue as they set sail across the world.

For more beleaguered sides it has come at the perfect time, giving them a chance to circle the wagons and press the reset button earlier than normal.

But not at Manchester United — the club where the circus never leaves town.

Last week co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe told the BBC that he believed the United Kingdom was “on the slide”, suggesting politicians were not "tough enough to deal with the immigration problem" or "benefits problem".

This came nine months after he said the UK had been "colonised by immigrants" and later apologised. Sir Jim's divisive comments have gone down as well as United’s laboured performances this season.

Earlier this week Eric Cantona, one of English football’s greatest foreign imports, was asked if he would have signed for United under the club’s current regime. The answer was an emphatic, “Non.”

Cantona, the rebel who became the king of Old Trafford, is clearly a political outlier in a modern game where money rules the roost.

Eric Cantona: strong words against United's co-ownerCredit: Bongarts

But his dismissive response to Sir Jim is a damning indictment of the billionaire once heralded as United’s potential saviour.

Ratcliffe’s comments about a once formidable empire crumbling to the ground are a tad ironic given that is exactly what he is presiding over at Old Trafford.

On Wednesday, United’s yearly financial results were released. While there were record revenues of £677.7 million, the club remains saddled with more than £1bn of debt, the legacy of the Glazers' hostile takeover in 2005.

During the summer relations between the club and fanbase plummeted to new depths — impressive considering how bad they already were.

Across the board season ticket holders are being marginalised and the higher up the league ladder you look, the less worth they seem to have to their clubs.

A season ticket holder will stump up at the start of the campaign, pay for any cup or European games and maybe cough up for the odd pie or pint along the way.

A supporter who visits once a year is far more likely to spend big on a hospitality ticket and open their wallets in club shops, though, making them a more lucrative customer.

However, it hasn’t all been bad. On the same day the latest financials were released, United put cubes of Old Trafford turf on sale, yours for a bargain £125.

A cube of Old Trafford turf - yours for just £125Credit: Manchester United

The mood has darkened further thanks to United’s poor start on the pitch.

Manager Michael Carrick isn’t blameless — sometimes you wonder what they actually do in training — but he’s not been fully backed and a familiar cycle feels like it’s repeating.

The mood is just as gloomy half a mile up the road at Old Trafford cricket ground, where Lancashire are trying to avoid finishing bottom of the County Championship for the first time in their 162-year history.

Lancashire haven’t won a Championship match since April, a civil war is raging between the club and its membership, director of cricket Mark Chilton has been axed and first-team coach Steven Croft — a club stalwart hired in similar circumstances to Carrick — is surely on borrowed time.

The other day I went to watch Lancs play Gloucestershire — El Wooden Spoonico — with my dad and grandad.

The cricket was average and 24 wickets fell in the day, but we still had a great time. Likewise, the highlight of the football season so far has been spending time with mates at the match.

These are the intangibles that make sport brilliant, something the people at the top can never truly understand but are steadily eroding.

Jim Ratcliffe will likely continue to eat away at the soul of a community institution — and not even a flying kick from Cantona can stop him.

Oh well. At least I can ask Santa for a cube of Old Trafford turf.

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