Player frustrations echoed the club’s failure to make the most of their recruitment which they will need to return to greatness

So low is faith in Manchester United, it came as little surprise to see them teeter. Two goals up and cruising, then two Newport goals and lurching, this is Manchester United 2024, much like the Manchester United of the past 10 years.

Even if they did escape back across the Welsh border in relief, there are still many more miles to travel, the gains required infinitely larger than marginal if greatness is to return. Even when visiting Newport, 16th in League Two, swapping cava glasses and prawn sandwiches for styrofoam cups and sizzling onions, United cannot be relied upon for serenity.

• Forward reported ill for training after alleged nightclub visit
• Manchester United beat Newport in FA Cup without Rashford

Erik ten Hag said he will deal with Marcus Rashford after omitting the forward from Manchester United’s squad for their 4-2 FA Cup victory at Newport County because of an ­“internal matter”, raising further questions about indiscipline within his squad.

Rashford reported ill for training on Friday, hours after allegedly being pictured at a nightclub in Belfast. The 26-year-old England striker is reported to have attended Thompsons Garage nightclub on Thursday before ­flying home by private jet on Friday ­morning. Rashford travelled to Northern Ireland on Wednesday to visit his former United youth teammate ­Ro-Shaun Williams, who recently signed for the domestic champions, Larne. Ten Hag ruled ­Rashford out of his side’s trip to Newport on Friday because of illness.

Second half goals from Antony and Højlund eased United’s nerves after they were given a scare by Newport

Newport’s Will Evans is a terrifc story. From working on a farm while playing for Cardiff Met University and Bala Town in the Welsh Premier League, to turning professional at the age of 25 and quickly becoming League Two’s premier striker. How he’d love a goal today to burnish his reputation further.

The players are in the tunnel and we’re almost ready to go.

This was a bumpy, disconcerting ride for Erik ten Hag and long after the Manchester United manager negotiated more questions about Marcus Rashford’s apparent indiscipline. Rashford was con­spi­cuous by his absence, not in the United squad that flew into Cardiff because, Ten Hag said, of an internal matter, days after the forward reported ill for training, hours after allegedly being pictured in a Belfast nightclub.

On the pitch, a United side assembled at a cost of more than £400m survived an almighty scare at a gutsy and defiant Newport County, a team 76 places below them in the pyramid made up of largely waifs and strays.

• Manager is aware he must prove himself for Ineos review
• Dutchman’s contract expires in summer 2025

Erik ten Hag has refused to disclose if he has discussed a new contract with Sir Jim Ratcliffe, though Manchester United’s manager accepts being on trial like at any major club.

The Dutchman is enduring a turbulent second season in charge that has placed his job under pressure. United are in eighth, 11 points behind Aston Villa in fourth, and have been knocked out of Europe and the Carabao Cup, leaving the FA Cup as the only realistic chance of silverware.

Maidstone magic, Black County bragging rights, and Barkley and Porro putting boots into their former clubs

In an era when it seems there is a strange appetite to diminish cup competitions at every opportunity, it was heartening to listen to the Bristol City striker Tommy Conway discuss what it meant to him to score the goal that edged out West Ham in their FA Cup third-round replay. Conway was a fan in the Lansdown Stand the night his boyhood club beat Manchester United in the Carabao Cup in 2017 and seven years on it was his goal that earned another tie against Premier League opposition. Seb Palmer-Houlden, the City striker who will line up against United for Newport on Sunday, was a ballboy when the Robins gave José Mourinho’s side a bloody nose. City made lots of friends on that cup run, which ended in the semi-finals against Manchester City, and they host Nottingham Forest on Friday with another chance for the club to enhance its reputation. Ben Fisher

Bristol City v Nottingham Forest, Friday 7.45pm (all times GMT)

Chelsea v Aston Villa, Friday 7.45pm

Tottenham v Manchester City, Friday 7.45pm

Ipswich v Maidstone, Saturday 12.30pm

Everton v Luton, Saturday 3pm

Sheffield United v Brighton, Saturday 3pm

Fulham v Newcastle, Saturday 7pm

• ‘Maybe United thinks everything is going to change’
• Omar Berrada is leaving City to become CEO at Old Trafford

Pep Guardiola has said ­Manchester United are deluded if they believe that taking Omar Berrada from ­Manchester City to be their chief executive will solve their problems at a stroke.

Berrada has been placed on gardening leave after agreeing to leave his post as chief football operations officer at City Football Group and join United. The move has been regarded as a coup for United but Guardiola pointed out that it would not suddenly shift the ­balance of power in Manchester.

Turkish £4.7m goalkeeper set to make his debut in FA Cup with André Onana away at Africa Cup of Nations

Altay Bayindir knows how to seize his chance and after months of watching on from the bench he will finally get one for Manchester United. The Turkey international has played in plenty of intimidating atmospheres in his homeland so should not be fazed by a trip to League Two Newport County in the FA Cup fourth round on Sunday.

At the age of 20 he was the third-choice goalkeeper for the Turkish Super Lig side Ankaragucu, looking on while others made mistakes, when he was thrust into the team. After signing for United from Fenerbahce in the summer, he may have expected to have featured before late January but André Onana played every minute this season, despite underwhelming form, before his departure for the Africa Cup of Nations.

• Spanish giants return to summit with £723m revenue
• Liverpool drop from third to seventh, the biggest fall in top 20

Manchester City have been knocked off their financial perch by Real Madrid in the annual Deloitte Football Money League, despite winning the treble last season.

There was another surprise in the report, which found that the revenue of the top 20 richest men’s clubs rose by 14% to £9bn last season, as Tottenham overtook Chelsea to become the richest club in London.

• Striker has had surgery and will be out ‘for about 10 weeks’
• Frenchman out of contract this summer and likely to leave

The Manchester United forward Anthony Martial has been ruled out until April after surgery on a groin injury. The 28-year-old is out of contract this summer and has managed 19 appearances and two goals in another disrupted campaign.

Martial has not featured since United fans cheered his substitution in the 3-0 home loss to Bournemouth on 9 December. The club said: “Anthony Martial has completed successful surgery to address a groin complaint and will be out of action for about 10 weeks as he rehabilitates We wish Anthony a speedy recovery and look forward to his return.”

• Director of Ineos Sport focused despite new role at United
• Team’s budget remains fixed after football investment

John Allert, the new chief executive of the Ineos Grenadiers, has denied suggestions that Dave Brailsford has turned his back on cycling to devote himself to his new role at Manchester United.

Allert explained that Brailsford, who is immersed in an audit of Manchester United after the Ineos owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s acquisition of a minority stake at the club, has a job title that allows him to have oversight across a number of sports in the company’s stable.

• Berrada joined City in 2011 and has been COO since 2016
• Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s advisor Brailsford to conduct audit of club

Sir Dave Brailsford, the mastermind behind Team Sky and its Ineos-Grenadiers successor, has stepped away from cycling to focus on his new role at Manchester United. As the chief sporting adviser to the Ineos chairman, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Brailsford is to concentrate on an audit into the club Ratcliffe paid £1.25bn to buy a quarter share of and take control of sporting affairs.

Brailsford, after his success as performance director of British Cycling, founded Team Sky in 2010, winning its first Tour de France in 2012, Bradley Wiggins taking the first of seven of eight editions until 2019 by four riders, Chris Froome collecting four. The team collected five further Grand Tours under the Sky and Ineos banner that followed a rebrand in 2019.

The days of the all-powerful manager are over so Manchester United’s search for a sporting director is crucial for the club

When I was playing for England, Dan Ashworth was always there. He sat in the back of meetings, attended matches and came to training sessions in his role as director of elite development at the Football Association but he never openly interjected, keeping himself to himself. At the time I wondered what he was doing but gradually you could see the effect he had when everything around England improved.

Ashworth has gone on to have great success at Brighton and Newcastle in his understated way as a sporting director. The role was often misunderstood in the UK, more often used abroad, but it is a valuable part of a club’s structure. Ashworth is one of many who are showing the importance of employing someone with oversight of what is happening, giving a club a long-term vision that can bring success on the pitch.

This page is to the birds

With Joelinton’s prognosis on his muscle injury not looking at all good, Newcastle really need a midfielder. They’re in the hunt for Kalvin Phillips, who is this window’s most recurring name, give or take Ivan Toney. Phillips, with no real chance of playing for Manchester City, is wanted by a long list that includes Barcelona and Atlético Madrid. There’s Juventus, too, while a loan move to West Ham or Crystal Palace would keep him in Gareth Southgate’s sightlines. A £7m loan fee is the asking price.

There is an alternative for Newcastle, namely Ederson at Atalanta even if the Serie A club do not want to sell. How about Conor Gallagher, on the market as Chelsea address their own profit and sustainability concerns. Another means to achieve that is the sale of Armando Broja, valued around £50m, a prohibitive price for those interested, including West Ham, Fulham and Wolves. Broja, like Gallagher, having been youth team hewn, counts as pure profit on the FFP chitty for the Bridge money men. That high price arrived via a weighting on Manchester United paying £64m for Rasmus Højlund, their similarly goal-shy striker.

• US SEC filings said Sheikh Jassim did not respond to requests
• Jim Ratcliffe gave United Christmas Day deadline to accept offer

The Qatari bidder for Manchester United, Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani, dropped out of the race to buy the club after failing to prove he had sufficient finance for the deal, according to a document submitted to American authorities.

In filings made to the US Securities and Exchange Commission to confirm Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s acquisition of 27.69% of the club, Jassim (referred to as “Bidder A”) is described as having failed to respond to requests to show where his money was coming from. It was also revealed that ­­Ratcliffe issued a Christmas Day deadline for ­acceptance of his final offer, threatening to walk away if there was no progress.