Man United manager, Erik ten Hag, has been walking a very fine line for much of this season, as the Red Devils meander from one disaster to another.
The manner of the 4-0 defeat against Crystal Palace was surely the nadir for many supporters, particularly those that had spent their hard-earned travelling down to London on a Monday night, only to be rewarded by another awful performance.
The smart money appears to have long been on ten Hag being given the old heave-ho by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, however, former super agent and co-creator of the Premier League, Jon Smith, believes that there are good enough reasons why the club may stick with the current set-up – at least for now.
Ten Hag could stay at Man United
“If I’m Sir Jim Ratcliffe, I’m looking at the managerial situation with the first-team and thinking ‘okay, where do we go with this appointment? It has to be superb and I’m looking around looking for Mr. Superb and I’m struggling to find him,’” Smith said to CaughtOffside for his exclusive column.
“Then, given that it’s going to cost a lot of money to get rid of Erik ten Hag and reinvest in the squad anyway, it’s tempting to believe that Sir Jim could quite possibly decide to work with the Dutchman because he knows the team and he knows the squad.
“If, in a few months time, he still can’t do it, then United will regroup again. After all, the development of the squad is going to take 4-5 years regardless.
“[…] There is, evidently in my head, a school of thought where ten Hag stays and United start rebuilding under him.”
The salient issue here is that United aren’t going to be rebuilt quickly, both in an actual as well as financial sense.
Everything will take time and money, so if there’s an initial cost saving to be made, however incidental that might seem to supporters or outsiders, it might be the route that Sir Jim and his staff decide to go down.
Ten Hag has always maintained that he can’t be judged on this season because of the succession of injuries that have befallen the first-team squad.
Certainly, in his first season at the helm, United were a completely different proposition, and with fans being as fickle as they are, if ten Hag were to recapture some of the form from 2022/23, there’s likely to be much less of a hoo-hah at his continued employment.
Of course, United may ultimately decide to dispense with his services, but in so doing, they need to bring in a top-level coach that can hit the ground running at Old Trafford.
1) The cost of paying off Ten Hag is negligible compared to the £50-£100 million United have lost as a result of their failure this season.
2) Ten Hag is close to being known as United’s worst manager of the EPL era wasting the best part of £400 million in the transfer market whilst making no improvements on the shambles that he inherited
3) The approach Ten Hag takes is obviously and massively flawed abd the way to undo it clearly common knowledge in football circles and yet he refuses to adapt in anyway either to foil opponents or mitigate his own players weaknesses.
4) There is a manager with more than adequate credentials to replace Ten Hag and that is Thomas Tuchel. He has managed 4 elite level European clubs, won league titles in two countries, won silverware at every club he has managed, qualified for the UCL in the last 9 consecutive seasons and reached the QF as a minimum in the last 6 winning the UCL once and being losing finalists as well. He also revived a Chelsea team drifting in 9th place in the EPL to achieve UCL qualification in just over 3 months. He has a reputation of being an excellent man manager and one of the most imaginative tacticians in the game (according to Pep and Jurgen that is)
5) United do not need to ‘rebuild financially’ as they posted record revenues in 2023 so the only thing they need to focus on as a first step is improving on the field to qualify for UCL. Given Tuchel’s record he would seem more than qualified for the job. Whether he is ‘Mr Superb’ is irrelevant. That he stands a far better chance of reviving United”s fortunes and fulfilling the boards minimum expections than Ten Hag is what is salient.
6) This season has cost United something between £50 and £100 million in lost revenues. To risk that again by retaining such an inadequate manager is not the behaviour of a credible business man, its more the behaviour of a ‘on tilt gambler’. You should never throw good money after bad and whether in the transfer market or on the pitch Ten hag cannot be trusted to make the right decisions.
7) Ten Hag has hidden behind the excuse of injuries all season because he is is either incapable or unwilling to adapt and the fact United are in such a dreadful state is largely down to that not injuries. That has resulted in what is likely to become United’s worst season in EPL history. The last thing United should do is let him further damage the club.
8) According to snap surveys up to two thirds of Man United followers believe ten hag should be sacked.
9) If Ratcliffe does retain him then don’t be surprised if ‘Ten Hag’s Unwatchables’ become ‘Ratcliffe’s Rejects’ if they do not improve massively next season. TEN HAG MUST GO!
I like Ten Hag. I have been supporting MU since Big Ron as MU manager.
Instil discipline is importance to the club. Look at the Ronaldo, Sancho, Rashford.
No Players are bigger than the club. He made the right decisions.
Tuchel? Don”t you think he is a mirror of certain Jose？
What were u thought when he won the so call not so important Milk Tin cup?
If you are so impatient, join the Noisy Neighbour.