Any day now, the plane hire company that flies banners over Old Trafford will be expecting a call.

It’ll be the same customer, same message – just a different name on the banner.

Instead of ‘Glazers Out’ and ‘Woodward Out’, it’ll be ‘Ratcliffe Out’.

It hasn’t taken long.

Just 10 months since the petroleum billionaire promised to “put the Manchester back into United”, he is presiding over a shambles – of his own making.

And the fans are angry.

Last weekend, he outdid Andre Onana as the biggest clown in town.

The goalkeeper’s inexplicable failure to stop a shot straight at him cost United defeat to Nottingham Forest.

But it wasn’t even the biggest talking point.

It was sacking a man Ratcliffe had described in glowing terms a year ago.

“Dan Ashworth is a 10 out of 10 director,” he said of the 53-year-old for whom he paid a transfer fee of £2m and waited five months for him to complete his gardening leave at Newcastle.

He was out after just five more months.

Perhaps that’s what Ratcliffe had meant by a “root and branch” review.

The fee is chickenfeed but the sense of chaos at the top is overwhelming.

No one knows the heinous crime Ashworth is supposed to have committed, but then no one really knew his exact role in the first place.

Sporting director was his title but there is already a Football Director – Jason Wilcox – plus David Brailsford who is Ratcliffe’s right hand man.

Brailsford isn’t a football man, made his name in cycling with the success of his philosophy of marginal gains.

Just what he does at United, no one is sure of this either – but what is going on is more than marginal.

During games, the impression of the hierarchy gazing down from upon high is one of a Stalin-era Soviet politburo.

Or, simply, too many cooks.

Ratcliffe has shown a Stalin-era ruthlessness in sacking 250 staff while millions of pounds are wasted on players.

He’s also raised ticket prices and giving no concessions to the young, elderly or infirm.

Oh, and he’s made the women’s team feel as if they’re an unwanted distraction.

And now he’s cancelled the Christmas party.

There would have been an even more unforgivable gaffe but for Alex Ferguson.

The brain-dead regime was all set to deprive the Busby family of their seats until Fergie reminded them of who Matt Busby was.

Creating the Busby Babes and rebuilding the club after the Munich air crash to finally win the European Cup earned him a statue at the ground.

Busby will still be immortal long after the oil runs out.

Mere legends are also losing their seats including Norman Whiteside and David Gill, the former CEO. Whiteside’s wife called the club “a disgrace.”

Morale at Old Trafford is said to be way lower than United’s league position.

Those who thought that the pendulum might be about to make its long swing back to the red half of Manchester must think again.

With City’s woes taking their toll on Pep Guardiola and a bright young manager in Ruben Amorim arriving, there was fleeting optimism a month ago.

We’ll have a better idea after the Manchester derby at 00.30am Monday.

All this only weeks after Erik ten Hag was finally put out of his misery as manager.

Penny-pinching over seats contrasts with millions wasted. The Dutchman’s £12m compensation had been preceded by a transfer spend of £200m.

Amorim and his assistants have also come at a price (circa £10m) and have yet to deliver the new manager bounce.

In mitigation, the Portuguese is stuck with Ten Hag’s duds and will have little money for replacements.

He has at least put a smile on the players’ faces, but will need time to get them to play the way he wants.

United sit 13th in the table with a Champions League place – and its crucial funding – looking a distant prospect.

The more you look at it – and United fans do with horror – the more catastrophic the decision to give Ten Hag a new contract becomes.

If the Glazers had made it, “clueless Yanks” would have been the cry.

But it was Ratcliffe who was swayed by the feelgood factor of beating City to win the FA Cup in the Wembley sunshine.

As delirious as United celebrations were, wiser heads recognised it had been a weakened City who were not really at it that day.

Exhausted by claiming their unprecedented fourth league title in a row – and their celebrations – the Cup was not their priority.

Nothing went right for them although United played well and thoroughly deserved their victory.

But to reverse a decision about a manager based on 90 minutes – as stunning as they were – raised questions about the new regime’s judgment.

Imagine the effect on the dressing room.

And it wasn’t as if the Dutchman’s signings – with the exception of Noussair Mazraoui – were working.

Yet United allowed him to throw good money after bad.

After Antony for £85m! And McTominay had to go! As a home-grown player his £30m fee went straight into the book.

Yep, things have become that tight at Old Trafford.

On Saturday, for the first time in living memory, tickets were put on general sale.

“Best in class” is the mantra of the INEOS company that Ratcliffe owns, but there’s been scant evidence of it so far.

They pulled off a coup by persuading highly-rated Omar Berrada to leave City to become CEO and Amorim is a coveted young manager.

But with a record of mostly expensive failure in the other sporting misadventures INEOS has tried, United should have been more wary when Ratcliffe took his 27%.

His most recent bid to win sailing’s America’s Cup ended in humiliation.

His two other football clubs have gone nowhere and he turned an all-conquering cycling team into mediocrities. In Formula One, even Mercedes stalled as soon as he backed them.

Whatever he touches, Midas should not fear a challenge.

In comparison, the Glazers left well alone – except for helping themselves to the till.

But perhaps Ratcliffe’s greatest achievement is to make those loathed parasites look almost preferable.

Best in class, worst owners in the league.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.