At Old Trafford, a great club plunged into recent despair, where new management structures and ideas have been grafted on to the previous set of innovations, Ten Hag needs someone to help him get an idea of the job that lies ahead. Who better than McClaren, a man he has worked with before and trusts, and who has served at United under Sir Alex Ferguson in the club’s greatest years?

McClaren would not come back to United to decide tactical approach, recruitment or any of the biggest issues. But he could support Ten Hag assimilating to a new football culture.Ten Hag has been appointed for his tactical acumen, his management of players, the successful culture he fostered at Ajax, and his attention to detail in doing so. Even the most single-minded managers need allies who can offer them an informed perspective on the club they are trying to change.

United, and its hinterland, have grown considerably in size in the post-Ferguson years. The club now encompass the enormous commercial operation; the two boards – corporate and football; the vast scouting operation; the new hierarchy under John Murtough, all of it answering to an ownership based in Florida. Outside the ropes are a global fan base of hundreds of millions and a significant number of high-profile former players offering analysis that often leads the news agenda ahead of anything that comes out of the club itself.

Amid all that noise, Ten Hag has to get right the small detail of turning around the plummeting on-field form of English football’s most famous club. That alone will take up his every waking minute – and for the rest he may need some support.

As with all jobs that seek to effect huge change, Ten Hag will have to manage up as well as down. He will need some help doing that and however one views McClaren’s career, he has seen it all – from that winner at the Nou Camp in 1999 to that rain-soaked Wembley evening against Croatia in 2007. In the last decade of his Old Trafford years, the gatekeeper to Ferguson was Mike Phelan, now back on the United staff. Phelan would manage access to the man himself, ensure Ferguson knew what he needed to know and deflect the thousands of requests on his time that were not crucial.

At Arsenal in the mid-1990s, Arsene Wenger revolutionised the English game but through it all, he recognised the contribution of Pat Rice, his loyal assistant, who knew the different characters and anomalies of the country and could help and advise when required.

That is part of what McClaren can do for the young coach he met at Twente, as well as offer some sage counsel when asked. Ten Hag has been chosen for his talent but – as all his fellow Dutchmen who have played and coached in England will tell him – this is a different beast altogether. Many of them have come to the Premier League and been a huge success but all have required a period of adjustment and a little help. For Ten Hag, the candidate to assist him is obvious.