As Rio Ferdinand found his name in headlines to take the role as inaugural technical director at Manchester United another prospective applicant was preparing for a Champions League semi-final.
Edwin van der Sar has been back at Ajax for three years now and it's approaching the two year anniversary when Jose Mourinho guided United to Europa League victory against them.
The consequent years couldn't have gone much different for the two sides.
While United have sacked a manager and found themselves likely out of Europe's premier competition again next season, Ajax are top of the Eredivisie and through to the semi-finals of the Champions League having knocked out Real Madrid and Juventus on the way with a team perfectly blended with homegrown young talent and senior leaders.
They've reached a "level of football nobody really expected" Van der Sar told the Guardian. But, they've done it by savvy business decisions mixed with a footballing brain.
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And that's where United have drastically fallen down over the years.
Ed Woodward, executive vice chairman at the club, is a businessman. Nobody in football, fans or otherwise, are naive enough to believe that first and foremost football isn't a business to the many people involved in it. And consequently business minded brains are needed behind the operation so it should come as no surprise that the man pulling the strings at Old Trafford for years is a former chartered accountant and investment banker. His predecessor David Gill also had a similar background.
However, where United have struggled to keep up is by not having a figure with a football background working alongside Woodward in the management structure working with the first team manager on signings. Ajax changed their approach and it's paid dividends.
“Johan Cruyff told me normally it’s a lawyer or businessman who knows about balance sheets who can become the CEO," Van der Sar said. "But, he said, you have come from the university of football, the university of life, what a player must learn: setbacks, success, pressure, winning finals, losing finals, making a mistake in the 89th minute, making a save in the 91st minute.
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"I did a masters in sports management after I retired but it was still a leap of faith that I needed to take, that Ajax needed to take.”
As United look to hire their first technical director to get United back to a level where they can compete for the Premier League title again they could do worse than to take a leaf out of Ajax's book.
That doesn't necessarily mean recruiting a former player of the club because they 'get it' and have experience of management in other businesses. It's already too late to get the new recruit in for this transfer window so club chiefs should refrain from rushing and appointing the wrong person and instead get the right person for the job.
Ultimately it's a role which is going to help to determine the success of a huge rebuild at the club Ajax took a gamble that paid off massively with Van der Sar and now United are going to have to hope they can do the same.
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