'I was far from impressed with what I saw when I visited Man Utd's training ground'

Manchester United have had to overhaul the culture that once left Roy Keane in disbelief during a visit to Carrington. The Red Devils' woes and lacklustre displays since Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement are no secret.

For years, United have grappled with players' complaints becoming public fodder; an unimaginable issue during Ferguson's 26-year tenure. Erik ten Hag is steering the ship back towards Ferguson's strict regime, while INEOS has introduced a fresh approach to recruitment. However, club legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who took over from Jose Mourinho, faced a vastly different atmosphere within the squad compared to the club's golden years.

Despite a hopeful start, Solskjaer's first full season saw the team struggle to break into the top four. In a bid to boost morale before a crucial Manchester derby in 2019, Solskjaer enlisted the help of his former team-mate Keane. But it didn't go as planned, with one player reportedly brushing off his speech.

A training ground source told Mirror Sport in 2019: "As you'd imagine, Roy has strong views on what it takes to be a proper United player and he gave it them straight. He wasn't impressed with one player who didn't seem to be all that interested and looked as if he'd rather be somewhere else."

Keane's rousing speech may have spurred United to victory over rivals City and a late surge into the Champions League spots, but it wasn't enough to solve the deep-rooted issues at the club. Solskjaer lamented a culture of leaks among players, and his successor Ralf Rangnick gave a damning verdict during his time at the club.

Rangnick, when quizzed about the challenges for incoming manager Ten Hag, stated that United required a significant overhaul. "You don't even need glasses to see the problems... now it's only about how you can solve them," Rangnick said.

"Not minor cosmetic things. This is an open-heart operation. If everyone realises this has to happen and works together, it doesn't need to take years."

Upon taking over at Old Trafford, Ten Hag immediately set out his stall with five strict rules for the squad. He warned that any player tardy for training or meetings would be benched; insisted on direct communication rather than through agents; banned alcohol during match weeks; mandated eating club-provided meals instead of personal chefs' creations; and required monthly BMI checks.

Ten Hag has faced challenges with squad discipline, resulting in notable clashes with stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho. Despite these hiccups, his strict policies have paved the way for a fresh generation of talent to rise and seen the Red Devils decorate their cabinet with two trophies within two seasons.

Nevertheless, questions linger after the team was thrashed 3-0 by fierce rivals Liverpool on Sunday.

Earlier in the summer, Ten Hag acknowledged Rangnick's sage analysis of the United squad, with INEOS also addressing the club's need for a new football structure. "Rangnick was absolutely right," Ten Hag admitted.

"We have been working very hard on this for two years, but he said it exactly right: it is a thorough, very complex operation. And I knew when I started that it was going to be a tough job," the United boss continued. "And there were a lot of people who advised me against it, yes, including Louis van Gaal.

"So when I came I wasn't shocked. But the culture, the mentality was really not good. To win, to really achieve top performance every week, we had to change a lot across the whole club. In a top sports environment everyone works to the highest standards. United drifted away from that, I noticed that from day one."