Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe likes Erik ten Hag but says the future of the Red Devils manager is “not his call.”
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BBC editor Dan Roan spoke with Ratcliffe, who selected not to give an opinion whether asked if he believes Ten Hag’s side will have long-term success.
“I don’t want to answer that question,” Ratcliffe said. “I like Erik. I think he’s a very good coach but at the end of the day it’s not my call — it’s the management team that’s running Manchester United that have to decide how we best run the team in many different respects.”
Erik ten Hag’s future uncertain as Sir Jim Ratcliffe says Manchester United leadership needs time to evaluate entire club
Ratcliffe noted that United’s new leadership — CEO Omar Berrada and sporting director Dan Ashworth — has only been with the club since July and need time to make a long-term prognosis for the club in many avenues including the management position.
“They’ve only been there, you can count it in weeks almost — they’ve not been there a long time so they need to take stock and make some sensible decisions,” Ratcliffe said. “Our objective is very clear – we want to take Manchester United back to where it should be, and it’s not there yet, obviously. That’s very clear.”
United were sunk 3-0 by Tottenham at the weekend and live in the bottom half of the Premier League table going into Week 7’s trip to Aston Villa. The Red Devils blew a 2-0 lead at Porto on Thursday but their 10 men rallied to draw their Portuguese hosts 3-3 at the Estadio Do Dragao.
Ten Hag said earlier Friday that he had no fears about the club’s future
“We are in there together, the ownership, leadership team, the staff,” Ten Hag said, via the BBC. “I appointed new staff. We bought new young players and we have to integrate them — like Manuel Ugarte. I know in top football, usually you don’t get time. They have to perform immediately, but that’s not always realistic. He has to get used to our game model, to his team-mates, to the intensity of the Premier League. It needs time.”