Manchester United are a club with an immensely proud history but this week they have reminded supporters of just how much they are still stuck in the past.
Any visit to the club's social media platforms will show an institution with an overindulgence in nostalgia and the happier times when they could seemingly do no wrong under the guidance of Sir Alex Ferguson.
But those rose-tinted spectacles have led United to continuously overlook the real problems that stand in their way; even when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is eventually sacked those structural issues will remain as they did before him.
News of Jesse Lingard's contract fallout this week came as no shock to those who have observed the club this season. He is another player sold a false promise of regular first-team minutes who is paying the price at international level for his club's ineptitude.
United needed to cut the fat on a bloated squad before the summer transfer window had even opened, but by the end of it had only sold Daniel James — while a trio of decent squad players were loaned out when they could have all been sold.
Andreas Pereira, Axel Tuanzebe, Brandon Williams are all still on United's books, though it is hard to envisage any of them having a meaningful future at the club as a regular starter.
United's love of nostalgia also leads them to be needless hoarders of talent as part of a wider structural mess, which has left them over-encumbered with an unsustainable amount of players. And problems result.
The club have handed out needless extensions to the likes of Juan Mata, Phil Jones and Eric Bailly in recent years, while their ongoing goalkeeper dynamic of David De Gea and Dean Henderson is absolutely ludicrous.
Then there is the matter of Paul Pogba, an inconsistent yet world-class talent who will demand a bumper new wage if he is to consider prolonging his stay at the club, using Cristiano Ronaldo as the new benchmark for the type of money he should be getting.
Ronaldo's summer arrival is itself at risk of causing a snowball effect when it comes to renewals, with Bruno Fernandes another who is in discussions over a new deal and could point to his compatriot's wages as a benchmark for his own.
The Portuguese's own return to Old Trafford was in itself the actions of a club with no long-term planning or visions who seem to act on the spur of the moment when it comes to transfer dealings.
While there is obvious acceptance about signing one of the greatest players to ever grace the game, this hasty approach is regularly seen in regards to dishing out new deals, as the club look to protect the market value of every player in the faintest hope they might one day actually have a renaissance and justify a bumper transfer fee.
Yet even when it does happen, as with Lingard, there is an odd reluctance from the club to actually get rid of him. Like a toddler trying to select their toys, they selfishly want to keep a hold of every one. United seemed to think they needed another attacking option when they were already overawed with possibilities.
The players aren't blameless either. Even if Lingard was sold a slick Solskjaer sales pitch regarding his playing time, surely he must have realised he would never replace talisman Fernandes in his favoured attacking role — that's before the club also spent huge money on signing two more talents in Jadon Sancho and Ronaldo.
Lingard's lack of opportunity has been disappointing but not really a surprise and with no new contract in sight he needs to be the first of many exits, for his own good and that of the club.
Instead of getting rid of a peripheral squad player for a decent fee this summer, United's short-term thinking could end up with them losing another academy success story on a free. But if they don't make severe structural changes it is a price they will continue to keep paying in the years ahead.
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