Sir Jim Ratcliffe‘s faith in Erik ten Hag remains seemingly unshaken by Manchester United’s recent dip in fortunes – but the head coach is likely to have his responsibilities reduced.
A deep audit of the club’s football operation is in the pipeline when his investment is finally confirmed. And this will include, i understands, putting player recruitment in the hands of experts, leaving Ten Hag to coach.
Ten Hag gave himself too much to do, with his preference for former Eredivisie players bringing little reward thus far.
While much has been made of Ratcliffe’s previous proclamations about poor recruitment and a lack of identity, he intends to see for himself what is and isn’t working. A detailed and thorough audit of recruitment processes, the club’s fledgling data operations and how deals are worked on is expected to be set up.
The Manchester-born billionaire is understood to favour the approach adopted by Manchester City, who had CEO Ferran Soriano and director of football Txiki Begiristain already in place before Pep Guardiola had been appointed. “We’re in the same direction, me, the CEO, the sporting directors, the chairman,” Guardiola admitted after Sunday’s derby win. “That is why the club is so stable.”
i exclusively reported earlier this month that former Tottenham head of recruitment Paul Mitchell is a frontrunner to become Ratcliffe’s new sporting director.
Mitchell has just left his role at Monaco, where he lived close to Ratcliffe and “operated in the same circles”. He has also moved back to the Manchester area and is interested in a move to Old Trafford.
However one feels about the prospect of the Glazers clinging on to overall control of the club, surveying the wreckage of another derby demolition by Manchester City it is obvious that new ideas and some certainty around the ownership is required at Old Trafford. Belatedly, it is coming.
i has been told that negotiations have accelerated in the fortnight since Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani’s Nine Two Foundation withdrew from the takeover process. Ratcliffe’s Ineos group have been working “night and day” to conclude the investment however neither a resolution nor an announcement on a deal is anticipated this week.
Instead it will be next week “at the earliest” although the expectation is the deal will be rubber stamped well before the end of November. “There’s still confidence the deal will be done,” a source close to the bid told i.
But Ten Hag, who Ratcliffe has “only ever been positive about” in private, is unlikely to be under any immediate pressure even after the most awkward results of his tenure.
“Everyone can have opinions on what has gone wrong or what is being done right but until you actually get in there it’s difficult to make those big decisions,” an Ineos insider told i.
After a predictably rough weekend for the Red Devils, the size of the challenge that awaits Ratcliffe and his team of football experts was etched out by the scale of Manchester City’s dominance in the derby.
Even if results got significantly worse, though, there is a belief that any mid-season move to replace the manager would send the wrong message.
Managerial instability is not in the club’s DNA and lessons from the missteps of Todd Boehly’s group at Stamford Bridge have been absorbed.
Ten Hag remains in significant credit at Old Trafford both for Champions League qualification and winning the Carabao Cup, a competition they remain in with a repeat of last season’s final at Old Trafford on Wednesday. They remain alive and kicking in a relatively gentle group in Europe too after a dramatic win over Copenhagen last time out.
But few could portray this is a good start to the season. It is starting to look like United – despite the heavily Ten Hag influenced recruitment of the summer – are even going backwards and the former Ajax boss is not entirely immune to criticism.
Ten Hag’s withdrawal of the willing but raw Rasmus Hojlund prompted jeers from a significant number of United fans, which could be read as a sign of impatience with an approach which did not work in the second half. Unlike last season, his substitutions diminished rather than improved his team.
The Dutchman was unflustered. He said that the reason for the game plan fraying at the edges was that a controversial first-half penalty meant he had to redraw his tactics. From going – in his words – “toe-to-toe” with City they had to chase the game and when they became more attacking, they made more mistakes and allowed the champions to dominate.
He deserves credit, at least, for the sense of composure he has brought to the position. United’s due diligence on him included praise for his ability to work under intense pressure and his approach and methodology does not change with results.
Despite the winds of change that are about to sweep into Old Trafford, Ten Hag is likely to stay unmoved.
