Erik ten Hag has a bank loan after his first season at Old Trafford, but it is dwindling. Photo: Matthew Peters/Getty Images < p>Erik ten Hag faces trial as Manchester United manager following the Ineos takeover. He is effectively interim manager until the end of the season.
Unless there is a significant improvement in results and performances, he will have to leave.
This is a natural consequence of significant upheaval in the boardroom. Whenever new investment comes into an elite football club, every department should be examined, especially those that are malfunctioning.
Ten Hag never lost the support of United fans on matchday, nor those who expressed the same sympathy as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, due to the working environment in the Glazer family.
This support is never lost. unconditionally, however. This also gives a sense of realism.
If you're Sir Jim Ratcliffe and you're promising to invest billions of pounds into a club, one of your top priorities is determining whether you have a coach who represents the dynamism you want to associate with your business.
Ratcliffe will be present. my first game for United as a major shareholder this weekend, asking myself: could this manager be the symbol of the club I want to build?
My long-held belief is that a football team is an extension of the manager's personality. Ten Hag's lack of charisma in press conferences wouldn't have been a problem if his team had played with character, but instead of being exciting and adventurous, United were predictable and, at worst, boring.
They have scored just 22 league goals so far, one less than Luton Town. Only Burnley and Sheffield United have a worse goalscoring record.
This makes Tottenham Hotspur a particularly intriguing opponent for Ratcliffe's first spell at Old Trafford due to his influence on the board. Ange Postecoglou's influence has become the stick to beat Ten Hag because of the contrast on and off the pitch: the Spurs manager talks to the media about a great game, while his team plays in a more entertaining style than his immediate team predecessors.
If Spurs win this weekend, the glaring differences between Postecoglou and Ten Hag will continue to be unfavorable for the United manager.
Ratcliffe will want the fans to be on the edge of their seats when the coach speaks. and team play.
For Ten Hag to survive and thrive, it is also necessary to establish an immediate relationship with Ratcliffe and Sir Dave Brailsford, who will form a three-man football «committee» with Joel Glazer. Red flags are immediately raised for Ten Hag because the Glazers have so far been a shield for United's ineffective managers.
Despite the criticism leveled at the Glazer family's management of the business (much of it justified), I never bought into the idea that they couldn't succeed at Old Trafford. Until now, Ten Hag has been given the same powers as Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp, especially regarding transfers. Guardiola and Klopp deserve it with their success. Ten Hag has it because no one had the authority or power to say no.
United's recent big-money signings depend on him. He had the chance to succeed in three transfer windows but made poor use of those resources, setting the team back this season despite huge investment. If there is no money left in this window, which may be his last, then it is his own fault.
Dear Newcomers , such as Anthony, did not live up to expectations. Photo: Getty Images/Oli Scarff
As United plan for the upcoming season, recruitment responsibilities will no longer primarily fall to him. This will create a new dynamic. In principle, it is difficult for any coach to adjust to a situation where the board of directors makes it clear that they will be more cautious in entering into deals without forensic analysis, or may even refuse outright before suggesting alternative targets that they believe have been carefully studied, than those that were signed earlier.
Well-run clubs will establish during the appointment process that the coach is comfortable with the arrangement. Ten Hag is now in a situation where he will have no choice but to adapt to the changes that are taking place, especially when United finally appoint a director of football.
You'll have to think long and hard to find an example of a major investor who took over a football team that had stopped competing for the biggest honors and, as part of their restructuring, stuck with the coach they had inherited. The Manchester United manager, who finished last in the Champions League group and was out of title contention by the end of October, is clearly vulnerable.
Of course, Ten Hag's staunchest defenders suggest there are mitigating factors to his struggles this season, particularly a long list of injuries. Finishing in the top four last year and winning the League Cup is a credit in the bank. It was a remarkable first step in Ten Hag's debut season in the Premier League, and the goodwill he has accumulated from these achievements speaks in his favor — the main reason he is still in his post.
One of the many surprising facts about Ten Hag is that he will surpass Sir Alex Ferguson in winning percentage if his team beat Tottenham Hotspur this weekend.
The sadder statistic is that United have lost 14 of their 29 matches this season.
p>Finding the right manager is difficult… but improvement can be rapid.
Looking back on my own experience at a club undergoing a massive change of management, Roy Hodgson's short reign at Liverpool ranks as the worst since Bill Shankly's appointment in 1959. … Hodgson lost nine in 31 games before being sacked, not coincidentally three months after Fenway Sports Group bought the club and wanted a different coach on the touchline.
No one will convince me that Ratcliffe bought into United thinking Ten Hag had already proven himself to be the right man for the job in the long term. He is far from untouchable.
I can only echo what I think about clubs of the caliber of United, Arsenal and Liverpool: they will never be as far away from returning to the top as they seem.
With their history, resources and influence, they just need the right manager at the right time and two or three top-class players to turn things around. They lift everyone up.
As the last 10 years at Old Trafford have shown, finding such transformative individuals is easier said than done.
But by applying this simple formula, Ratcliffe won't need to while some are predicting United will return to where they used to be. I suspect that when it does, it will be a revolution, dating back to Ineos' first permanent appointment as manager.
Ten Hag will have to fight throughout his career to ensure that the search for a new manager does not move forward March and April.
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