The search is back on. Nope, not for Jho Low, the missing MH370 or the Lost City of Atlantis.
But for the elusive individual who can get a tune out of a discordant bunch of footballers in the red half of Manchester.
Too bad the blue half has a fella who is probably the best in the business. And too bad United let him slip through their fingers.
Fergie thought he had him when they met for dinner in New York. But Pep wasn’t sure as he couldn’t decipher Fergie’s Scottish accent. Or so the story goes.
Well, it’s been downhill from there.
There has been the Fergie Clone, the Dutch Master, the Special One, the Club Legend, the Professor, the New Sheriff and lastly, the Poet.
You can’t say the club hasn’t tried.
But it’s not an easy job and it’s getting tougher. The basic requirements are: to outsmart Pep, qualify for Europe and not to lose to Liverpool.
A candidate must also adhere to the famous youth policy, handle big names, and be nice to club legends, especially Gary Neville.
And at all times, he must attack, attack, attack whenever they have the ball.
And he must now kowtow to a collection of busybodies, officially known as the CEO, sporting director and football director.
There was even a Marginal Gains guru, whatever that is, but he didn’t last long.
They sit up on high, are stern-faced and think they know better than you. They’ve been dubbed the Politburo.
And then there’s the old man, Jim Ratcliffe who pokes his nose into tactics and team selection too.
If you feel you tick a few of those boxes, send your CV to Ratcliffe, the billionaire boss of petrochemical company Ineos, who now owns 29% of the club.
It pays not to underestimate these guys, as they have already achieved the considerable feat of making a bigger mess of Manchester United than the Glazers.
All the time in Florida, at least they gave the manager some peace.
Ruben Amorim certainly didn’t get any, even the old man was telling him not to play three at the back.
And looking back to last weekend, it seems that the Portuguese had already had enough.
Like Enzo Maresca at Chelsea and Nuno at Forest, he talked himself out of the job.
Managers are doing this more often now, and who can blame them when they stand to collect millions in the payoff?
But if Devils fans thought a corner had been turned with the departure of a man clearly out of his depth, don’t be too sure.
After announcing that Darren Fletcher, the erstwhile Under-18 coach, would be the caretaker, it was then revealed that talks had been held with two other former players.
Fletcher oversaw a 2-2 draw at Burnley and will be in charge for the Cup game with Brighton on Sunday.
But Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Michael Carrick are being considered for the longer-term caretaker role until the end of the season.
Solskjaer, who was in charge between December 2018 and November 2021, hardly seems a step forward.
And again, you feel, it’s too many cooks.
United may think they need time to wade through the world’s most eligible candidates, and hope to pick The One this time.
It may appear to be sound thinking for once, but – and there is a sizable but – there’s the small matter of the World Cup taking place in June and July, and many of the A-listers will be there.
Even if a secret deal is done beforehand, a manager of a national side will not have time for a proper pre-season.
New signings could also be problematic. Clubs can be wary about paying a “World Cup tax” on those who have shone in the tournament.
Just ask Liverpool about Gerard Houllier’s “last pieces of the jigsaw” in 2002.
El Hadji Diouf and Salim Diao starred for Senegal, who reached the quarter-finals, but never brought that form to Anfield.
It’s now a cautionary tale.
All top managers deem this an absolute must if the club is serious about the following season.
Although it might be tempting to wait and lure Carlo Ancelotti for the coming season, what if Brazil implode as they did in Qatar?
And would cool Carlo want the hassle anyway?
Other national managers that may be of interest include Thomas Tuchel (England), Didier Deschamps (France), Julian Nagelsmann (Germany) and Mauricio Pochettino (USA).
Intriguingly, Marcelo Bielsa, who did a great job at Leeds, is also there in charge of Uruguay.
Another worry for the Ratcliffe regime and the fans is that form, which had picked up from last season, has dropped off.
Since the beginning of November, United have won only two of 10 games against the teams in the bottom eight.
And against the bottom three, they’ve managed three draws.
There are doubts now that they’ll qualify for European football at all, let alone the Champions League.
They are unlikely to splash out big in this month’s transfer window as they don’t have a manager, so the existing squad has to do the job.
It’s possible that under an ex-player having basically a free hit in charge, the team may also find that elusive freedom of expression.
No longer shackled by Amorim’s back-three obsession, they can revert to a more attacking style.
Apart from the No 1 spot, where Arsenal now seem to have a grip on the trophy, the top half of the table is congested.
Last season, the top seven all made it into Europe, but the chances are United may have to settle for one of the lesser places, if they get one at all.
As for who should get the job, this column sees one outstanding candidate.
He’s not at the World Cup, he’s won a European (Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt) as well as a domestic trophy (FA Cup, beating Pep’s Man City), and his contract runs out at the end of the season.
Oliver Glasner, Crystal Palace’s Austrian boss, could be the man.
Cool, erudite and committed to attractive football from three at the back, he speaks excellent English and knows the EPL.
If I were Ratcliffe, I’d be talking to him now.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.