To lose money may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose money and then one’s sense of decency begins to look like carelessness. Announcing redundancies, scrapping staff lunches and quietly retiring Sir Alex’s paid role while still playing at being a luxury brand is the sort of comedy even I would hesitate to stage. There is something especially vulgar about a club that wraps itself in romance while itemising its employees like unwanted ornaments on a bill. If this is what prudence looks like, one shudders to imagine how extravagance was dressed.