Erik ten Hag patiently awaits the results of the “strategic review”; comes ahead of Ineos' acquisition of United shares Photo: Simon Stackpool/Offside/Getty Images
Erik ten Hag must already know it will take a miracle to get out of this Manchester United era – a club that has been 13 months ago launched the largest takeover deal in the history of professional sports and completed it under the leadership of the same people.
There is no exact news yet on when the acquisition of Sir Jim Ratcliffe will take place. It was tentatively scheduled for the week before last, then last week and now possibly this week. United, meanwhile, was so firmly stuck in a stalemate that even Ten Hag began citing a “strategic review” in the absence of any other explanation. It appears that Ineos chief executive Sir Dave Brailsford is asking the medical department to carry out a review and identify potential sporting directors.
Meanwhile, Ten Hag has Liverpool at Anfield and a strategic review of his available central midfielders reveals the wrong players are injured again. Two months ago that would have meant Harry Maguire, but now he's back to favorites, Maguire has dropped out and Ten Hag has picked someone else again – Raphael Varane – he couldn't have done it better.
It's a cycle that never seems to end – reworked players, altered takeover plans, a constant re-evaluation of the recent past that United desperately want to leave behind but can't stop themselves from invading the present. When it seems that Ten Hag has exhausted all possibilities, he becomes manager of the month. It then loses at home to Bournemouth and finishes bottom of its Champions League group. At any given moment, it becomes increasingly difficult to know whether a team is in crisis or in triumphant rebirth, and often one can interrupt the other within the same week.
It's hard to imagine Glazers handing over all power to new partners.
If this is confusing, imagine what the experience must be like for the person involved. A no-nonsense, process-oriented Dutchman from the countryside in the east of the country and the scion of a family of wealthy real estate agents, he is used to dealing with confidence. Yet Ten Hag never completed his work. Someone keeps returning the questionnaire to him and pointing out the unresolved boundary issue, the historical subsidence, the long-term loan of Jadon Sancho.
What club trusts a minority shareholder (25 percent in Ratcliffe's case) with 100 percent of its football decisions? Apparently, the one at Old Trafford at the moment. It's still hard to believe that the remaining Glazers, most notably Joel, will hand over all that power to the new partners. Or even that this joint venture will have the necessary stability. However, what you have to wonder most is whether anyone will ever be given the power to do so.
While Brailsford is destined to be a key figure, everyone knows it is the sporting director who matters. This was a position that Liverpool, for example, adopted to the general satisfaction of all concerned during the early years of Jurgen Klopp's reign and, despite a number of sackings over the last 18 months, the club has maintained its player selection strategy.
United's proposed strategy looks like this: Glazers and Ratcliffe at the top, Brailsford somewhere one level below, and then two more levels, starting with a figure not unlike Newcastle United's Dan Ashworth – or perhaps even the person himself. After this, a sporting director such as Paul Mitchell or Dougie Freedman will handle all recruiting matters. Other candidates at this level include Lee Congerton, currently at Atalanta; Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara, both former AC Milan players, as well as Atlético Madrid player Andrea Berta. There is no shortage of bright minds capable of organizing recruitment – the question is how much control is given.
Ineos CEO Jean- Claude Blanc with sporting director Sir Dave Brailsford and owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe. Brailsford is expected to have a key role at United once the purchase of Ratcliffe's shares is completed. Photo: Jean Catuffe/Getty Images
Who will take charge of United? These days, Ten Hag does it stoically, taking the blame, bringing players in and out of favor, and causing infighting within the company and in the media. Not always wise to say, but at least he tries to make decisions. Clearly he needs a strong recruitment partner, given the £82m mistake he made on Anthony. Sometimes managers need savings from themselves.
Above all, the complete lack of urgency on the part of the club's owners shows what they consider most important – and it doesn't seem like Ten Hag is a priority.
Victory over Liverpool on Sunday afternoon will give United the fleeting dopamine rush that 73,000 punters still flock to every week – but what will it mean? Nothing has changed since Bayern Munich on Tuesday, when United produced a perfect performance in these strange times. That is, at first glance, it is acceptable. It was just missing that moment when they were trying to win the game. Not just any game, but a game that determined their European future this season and a large part of their financial budget.
In other words, United left out the part that would have given the evening any point. They never forced the situation or put Bayern under pressure in any meaningful way. There was something about the lack of danger—the rush to another conclusion that yielded little—that the players seemed to reflect the owner's position in response to them. A lot of effort is put in and there is an idea of a big event, but in the end nothing changes.
Great teams at great clubs thrive on the momentum that drives them from one big game to the next. No one is confused about which direction they are going. When it ends, they change and start again. At United, however, change always happens next week. Absorption. Strategic review. The new sporting director, and for now also the manager, was left to hold it all together.
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