Sir Jim Ratcliffe's late arrival was another blow for Erik ten Hag at Manchester United

Having shaved one minute and 55 seconds off last year's London Marathon attempt, he finished in 4:30:52, and made the dash across the capital to arrive for the second-half. What followed next would have got his heart racing almost as much as the 26-mile run.

United were heading down easy street when Bruno Fernandes put them 3-0 up after the restart, but it soon transpired that they had taken a wrong turn along the way. Coventry scored three times in the final 20 minutes to inexplicably force extra-time and then looked to have won it when Victor Torp netted in the final seconds of the additional time.

The shameful celebration from Antony after they won the shootout was befitting of the pathetic performance that should have been capped with the ultimate humiliation of an FA Cup exit. Erik ten Hag insisted he wasn't 'embarrassed' after the win and instead looked at the 'huge achievement' of reaching a second successive FA Cup Final, when they have been rare events in the recent history of the club.

His rose-tinted view might well have been passable as 'The Magic of the Cup' if it had not been such a reoccurring theme all season, and most alarmingly, so often seen in recent weeks. In the past month alone, they have carelessly thrown away late leads against Brentford, Chelsea, Liverpool and now Coventry. It would be little surprise if they did so again in the final seven matches of the campaign.

Ratcliffe has been in attendance for the last three of them and was also at Old Trafford back in January when they twice let a lead slip against Tottenham in the Premier League. Since his minority stake was ratified he has watched four matches and not seen United win any of them.

While Ten Hag might want to focus on the 'high level' of performance that saw United take a three-goal lead on Sunday afternoon, the match Ratcliffe watched in person finished 3-1 to Coventry and exposed so many of the recurring issues that have plagued United throughout the campaign.

Yes, there have been a ridiculous amount of injuries (make it 60 separate cases of injury or illness that have caused a senior player to miss a match so far this season), but that is an unacceptable excuse for the pathetic manner of their collapse against Championship opposition.

Ten Hag warned after the game that he still has to teach his team how to manage a game better. That is simply an unacceptable excuse two years into his tenure when he has overseen £400 million of investment into a squad, irrespective of how severe the injury issues have been.

As the Ineos Group go in search of constructing a ‘best in class’ sporting structure, it can’t be ignored that having the wrong manager in charge would undermine all of the hard work they are doing to transform the club.

A bad workman blames his tools and Ten Hag is failing to take responsibility for the chaotic mess he has constructed. Gone are the days when United never know when they are beaten, here are the days when United never know when they have actually won.

Ratcliffe left it late but it is already too late for Ten Hag.