Erik ten Hag is sporting a white baseball cap and a red and blue club tracksuit while talking in a private room at UCLA, and his steady eye contact and composure under questioning augur well for Manchester United’s new season.
The Dutchman has proved a cool customer since signing on as the manager two years ago but after suffering the slings and arrows of Ineos’s beauty parade of potential replacements, a deeper confidence is evident. After Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s football department decided that, actually, Ten Hag remained the man for them, a new contract was agreed. Yet as this was for only two years it hardly suggested unequivocal backing.
