What does £57million get you in modern football? A decade of failure. That is the cost to Manchester United of dispensing with their unwanted managers since 2013 and the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson.
It's an era that has produced so much waste at Old Trafford that £57million can actually look like a drop in the ocean, especially when placed alongside the £1billion spent on signings. Yet in a way, the two issues go hand in hand. It's a figure and a problem that Sir Jim Ratcliffe will be wrestling with over the next couple of months as he weighs up whether to add to the cost.
Erik ten Hag's future remains on the line as he enters the final two months of the season, with a strong finish required to be sure of staying for the third year of the contract he signed in the summer of 2022. If Ineos decide they want to change manager as part of their overhauling of the football structure at United, it could cost them around £10million to dispense with Ten Hag.
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He would become the sixth manager to walk away from United with a sizeable sum in compensation in the previous 10 years. According to figures from United's accounts over the years, collated last week by respected football finance blogger Swiss Ramble, the severance packages paid to bosses and their coaching teams is now close to £60millon.
In 2014 it cost United £5million to part ways with David Moyes. When Louis van Gaal left the cost documented in accounts was £8million, while that rose to £20million for Jose Mourinho's exit in November 2018. The accounts detailing the departures of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick arrived in the same year and totalled £24million, with several coaches leaving too.
It's an eye-watering cost for those five managers to deliver two trophies. Ten Hag has added a third after winning last season's Carabao Cup, but his future is in jeopardy right now.
But to wield the axe and bring in a new manager - or head coach - would probably even more money to be spent on new players. Because when one manager goes the next tends to want to put his own stamp on it, a self-fulfilling and expensive cycle that Ratcliffe is determined to end.
That has evidently been the case for Ten Hag, who has spent £400million across two summer transfer windows to mostly sign players he knows. If he does leave this summer, he will bequeath his successor some gems. Lisandro Martinez and Rasmus Hojlund are top of the bill and Andre Onana is getting there.
Equally, what does the next manager do with Antony? What do they do with Casemiro, who has three years left on his contract, or even Tyrell Malacia? His season has been wrecked by injury but he didn't look capable of challenging Luke Shaw last season.
That's not to say that this is a reason for persisting with a manager. You can't make a case that any of those previous five managers were dispensed with unfairly. It's just that every elite club needs to build a squad suitable for any manager, rather than a squad for one particular manager.
It is also a lesson in getting decisions right. Ten Hag might yet prove to be an example of that. He could salvage Champions League qualification this term and even win the FA Cup, buying himself more time that he puts to good use. His appointment in 2022 looked like a sensible move as well.
But there were legitimate questions over the appointment of all previous managers. Moyes and Solskjaer were never really cut out for the role, while Van Gaal's best days were behind him. The same is probably true of Mourinho. All had backing in the transfer market only for the next man in to rip up those plans.
Now it is approaching decision time over Ten Hag. If Ineos decide to make a change it will be another substantial pay out to a manager. It needs to be the last.
