Last week, Wayne Rooney went to see Manchester United and talked about the big “changes” he saw.

Given how badly Manchester United has played lately, you might not think so, but the mood behind the scenes seems to be one of optimism.

In the last few weeks of his time as Erik ten Hag’s coach, Benni McCarthy talked about how happy Ineos made Carrington after Sir Jim Ratcliffe finally took over the Red Devils as a partial owner.

The famous defender Rio Ferdinand also felt differently when he visited the Manchester United training ground in September. Even Cristiano Ronaldo is optimistic about United’s future. And Wayne Rooney is the latest player to say that, even though Man United’s play on the field isn’t great, the club is no longer stuck in a vice-like grip of negativity and never-ending despair.

Every day, Ratcliffe, Dan Ashworth, Omar Berrada, and others work hard to get Man United back on track. They are slowly getting rid of the mediocrity and rust that came with the Glazer era.

It’s clear that a Premier League title threat is still a long way off.

Ratcliffe and Berrada have been very clear that this is a long-term project, though. After years of poor performance in every part of the club, Ineos are not just painting the outside of a house that already looks great; they are rebuilding the roots.

Wayne Rooney likes the changes that Ineos has made at Manchester United.

“It depends what happens over the next year or two,” Rooney said when asked if Man United could fight for the title in the next few years. “I think they have a good group of people in there with Jim Ratcliffe and Dan Ashworth.”

“I believe that gradually things are changing at that football club.”

“I was at the training ground last week and saw the changes. Little changes are being made that will help the sports club in the long run.

They better get it right, you hope. A group of good men has been sent to help.

Man United said in June that they were going to spend £50 million on improving their once-state-of-the-art training ground.

The goal is to build a “world-class” replacement for Old Trafford with up to 100,000 seats, a “New Trafford” if you will, that can compete with some of the best arenas in the world right now. If Ten Hag gets fired in the next few days or weeks, he will be the latest important person to be replaced by an ownership group that has already made a number of “best-in-class” hires.