IAN LADYMAN: Erik ten Hag’s honesty pays off over Jadon Sancho’s Manchester United absence…

One of the best exchanges between a football manager and a journalist I can remember took place at a dinner in the Midlands back in 1999.

Introduced to the lady from the Sun newspaper, one experienced manager of a lower league club said: ‘Ah yes, your paper is full of lies.’ He was doubtless rather surprised when the journalist nodded.

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘You tell us lies and we print them.’

The look on that chap’s face as he accepted rapid defeat in a battle of wits he himself had initiated has always stayed with me, as has one important lesson learned that day: don’t be intimidated. Think on your feet. Stand your ground.

Not all relationships between reporters and football managers are like that, not even now when genuine friendships are harder to develop in the modern game.

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag deserves praise for his honesty over Jadon Sancho

Ten Hag realised telling the truth over Sancho’s absence in the winter would help the winger

Nevertheless, most managers will occasionally lie to you in this business. They will be vague. They will obfuscate. They will lead you round the houses hoping you get lost on the way back. And, yes, when it’s absolutely necessary, they will lie too.

Sir Alex Ferguson admitted it to me once. He used the media better than most, but as a last resort he said he would lie over two things in particular — player contracts and injuries. The truth on both would hand an advantage to Manchester United’s opponents, he said.

All of which brings me to the current United manager Erik ten Hag and a lie he chose not to tell about Jadon Sancho.

When Sancho didn’t join United’s training camp in Spain earlier this winter, Ten Hag could have invented a mystery injury or refused to say why the 22-year-old had been left in England. Neither would have sounded very satisfactory.

The first would have necessitated lie after lie as further questions were asked about Sancho’s recovery. The second, the vague option, would merely have set the hares running in all manner of directions.

So Ten Hag told the truth instead. He revealed Sancho had stepped away from first-team activity to focus on his physical and mental health. He didn’t elaborate. He didn’t come anywhere near breaching Sancho’s medical confidentiality.

But Ten Hag read the room well. He realised some honesty would help and that, in these marginally more enlightened times, would contribute to his player being given enough space to find a way back towards where everyone at Old Trafford really needed him to be.

And so to that same stadium on Wednesday evening. I actually found myself sitting with a friend in the South Stand for the game (disclaimer: United are not my team) as Sancho prepared to play his first football since mid-October as a second-half substitute and the reception he received from a full house was warm, enthusiastic and also sympathetic.

Sancho made his Manchester United return as a substitute in the Carabao Cup in midweek

Ten Hag’s honesty contributed to the warm reception Sancho received from United’s fanbase 

Had Ten Hag not been so open about Sancho’s absence back before Christmas, had he chosen a fake narrative, then things could have been different.

The United support could have been suspicious or, even worse, ambivalent.

Instead they were warm and Sancho can now attempt to restart his career at the club with the backing of those in the stands and of a coach he knows he can trust to look after and support him.

I am told transparency comes naturally to Ten Hag.

It is possible he will tell some small fibs about other stuff when he feels he needs to going forward. Nobody really does vague quite like a Premier League manager.

But the Sancho business has reminded us that amid all the bluster, noise and fakery of modern football there remains room for some common sense and kindness and that feels like a relief.