Alan Brazil: Roll up, roll up for the Jose and Pogba panto at Manchester United

THESE days, shops seem to start getting ready for Christmas earlier and earlier each year.

Now it looks like Manchester United have followed their lead.

It’s not yet October, but pantomime season is already in full swing at Old Trafford.

Oh, yes, it is!

And centre stage is the ongoing battle between Jose Mourinho and Paul Pogba

It feels like it has been rumbling on for ages. But now it is getting truly bizarre.

It started with whispers and rumours that they were having major differences behind the scenes.

Now they are at each other’s throats in front of the TV cameras.

I’m still stunned by the footage that emerged from United’s training ground of Mourinho rebuking Pogba.

There’s no way that was an accident. Jose knew the cameras were there, and played to the audience.

It was pure soap opera. But what the whole scenario has underlined is that there is nobody at Manchester United strong enough to get either Mourinho or Pogba under control.

That’s a major problem.

It should be Ed Woodward’s job. Clearly, however, he’s either unwilling or unable to do it.

The result of that is that Manchester United are starting to look daft – and that should never be the case.

In Sir Alex Ferguson’s day, this situation would never have been allowed to develop.

Pogba’s feet wouldn’t have touched the floor on his way out the door.

Indeed, Fergie didn’t go out of his way to try to persuade Pogba to stay during his first spell at Old Trafford, and gave a withering assessment of the player after he’d gone to Juventus.

You can tell me the guy’s a World Cup winner with France and you can tell me he was fantastic at Juve.

I don’t care. At Manchester United, he has been bang average. He’s had the odd decent game, the odd flashy moment. But he has never strung together a run of five or six really impressive games.

Given the money Pogba is earning, I can see why Mourinho isn’t happy with him. He isn’t doing the business on the park and he appears to be poison in the dressing room.

Jose would love to punt him on, I’m sure, just as Sir Alex would have.

But this is a different era.

Woodward, as the guy who runs Manchester United on a day-to-day basis, should have his manager’s back.

Instead, I get the feeling he’s more interested in the corporate argument for hanging on to Pogba.

The fact that Mourinho isn’t doing a great job at the moment isn’t helping his case, and yesterday’s defeat at West Ham piles even more pressure upon him.

He has appeared less than happy in his job since the summer, and the midweek Carabao Cup exit at home to Derby County didn’t help his humour. But no manager is bigger than United, and Jose looks to be on borrowed time.

Even more so, no player is bigger than United.

Pogba can sell all the shirts he wants – and I believe he’s selling more around the world than anyone at the club since Ronaldo.

But Woodward should be sitting down with the club’s owners and saying: “Look, we have to back the manager on this one”.

The alternative is hanging on to a player who has consistently found himself battling with his manager.

Why should anything change if a new gaffer came in?

Pogba will still have a big ego, still think he’s better than he is, his attitude will still stink and he’ll still be being advised by an idiot of an agent.

There should only be one winner here – and it should be Mourinho.

If Manchester United can’t see that, they could end up with even bigger problems down the line.

Pogba still on the wage bill – and Jose gone.