The first major decision that Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos regime at Manchester United made since the billionaire’s minority investment earlier this year was to keep the faith with manager Erik ten Hag.
The Red Devils suffered their worst-ever Premier League finish last season, slumping to eighth place and ending the campaign with a negative goal difference, something they had not done since the 1989/90 season.
But an upset win over rivals Manchester City in the FA Cup final at Wembley meant that the club won their second piece of silverware under Ten Hag and despite speculation that other managers were sounded out during the summer, the club extended the Dutchman’s contract by a further year until 2026 in July.
After beginning their season with two defeats from their first three Premier League matches, pressure appears to be ramping up again, with former Tottenham and Chelsea defender-turned-pundit Jason Cundy believing that the club are not backing their manager at all - and his successor could already be in the building.
“They gave him one year added to one year,” Cundy said on talkSPORT. “That is not backing the manager, that’s basically saying ‘We’ve had a look around, we’ve done the sniff test, there’s no one out there we like the smell of, we’re going to stick with this stink’. They basically feel right now it’s better the devil you know.”
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“The problem Ten Hag has is that he’s in a right hole now,” he added. “He hasn’t been backed by the owners. That’s one of the worst efforts at backing a manager - giving him a one-year extension. [On bringing in the players Ten Hag wanted] that’s backing the project, not him. Give him a three-year contract!
“If you’re really backing the manager, say to him ‘I really believe in you, let’s do this now, let’s do another three on top of one year and give you four years’. They’re sitting there going ‘there’s nothing out there that we fancy right now, we’ll bring in Van Nistelrooy in to help.’
“Everyone knows how this is going to end. Ten Hag knows it, Sir Jim Ratcliffe knows it, the players know it, Van Nistelrooy knows it,” Cundy said, suggesting that the former striker is being lined up for the manager's job. “It’s just a question of when.”
In FourFourTwo's opinion, there is no doubt that Van Nistelrooy would take over from Ten Hag as an interim manager should his fellow Dutchman face the axe – but there's no guarantee that he would be a long-term fit for the project. United hired the former striker in the summer to aid Ten Hag and have so far only played three games, making talk of a sack a little premature at this stage.
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