Manchester United are top of the form table across Michael Carrick's 10 games in charge
When Manchester United's director of football Jason Wilcox addressed the club's players after Ruben Amorim's dismissal on 5 January and told them the aim was Champions League qualification, he was sending out a message.
After all, internally in their financial planning, and externally in communication with supporters, the stated target from the previous summer had been a return to European competition, most likely through the Europa League.
Wilcox was choosing to reinforce a point that just because Amorim had been sacked and a caretaker boss was being sought, it did not mean the season was being written off.
The hierarchy making the big decisions might have changed, but the chaos Ralf Rangnick's short tenure descended into when he was picked to guide United to the end of the season following Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's dismissal in November 2021 were fresh in the memory.
