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5 months ago
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The situationn with Erik ten Hag and Manchester United is astonishing.
For those of us looking from the outside, the Old Trafford circus is compelling viewing.
When it comes to Manchester United fans, maybe not so great to see.
However, as a Newcastle United fan, what is unfolding now at Man U is great to see.
A mad but true stat is that it took almost fifty years for this past season Newcastle United to finish above Manchester United in the top tier, as even the two runners-up spots in the mid-90s saw NUFC behind champions Man U!
Now in the present day, when we look ahead to next season, I think as Newcastle United fans we will need our team to make it consecutive finishes above Manchester United as a minimum, if we want our club to finish in the kind of position that will satisfy the fanbase.
Hence why such an interest in the goings on at Old Trafford.
Erik ten Hag has now given this incredible insider insight into exactly what has happened since the season ended and what is now set to happen…
Erik ten Hag speaking to Dutch TV channel NOS:
“The [Manchester United] club management came to me while I was on holiday in Ibiza.
“They (Manchester United representatives) suddenly showed up on my doorstep and told me they wanted to continue with me.
“Manchester United have told me that they spoke with [Thomas] Tuchel but they eventually came to the conclusion that they already have the best manager.
“Ineos took their time.
“They are new in football.
“It is normal to reflect on the season.
“It’s no secret that they talked with multiple candidates.”
“Manchester United and I still have to find an agreement for the new contract.
“This isn’t easily done, we are still going to have to talk about this…”
Where do you start???
So INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe are ‘new in football’ according to Erik ten Hag.
That will be news to Ratcliffe and his business empire, as they have owned Swiss club FC Lausanne-Sport since 2017 and French club OGC Nice since 2019, plus have a partnership with Racing Club Abidjan of Ivory Coast Ligue One. This is on top of course of all the other teams / clubs they own in other sports. Plus of course the minority stake in Manchester United now.
The clownish behaviour of Ratcliffe and his people with Manchester United cannot be put down to inexperience and/or naivety.
Instead, it is crystal clear that Ratcliffe is just an arrogant bully who is used to getting his own way and has found that simply isn’t the case when it comes to the Premier League. Having failed to bully Newcastle United into releasing Dan Ashworth for peanuts, Ratcliffe simply has refused to behave professionally in almost all of his Manchester United actions so far. He just needed to do the right thing and behave as a professional with the Newcastle United owners, agree to pay the necessary compensation, exactly as Newcastle did themselves when securing Ashworth from Brighton.
Quite clearly, Ratcliffe has very publicly gone around interviewing replacements for Erik ten Hag, his arrogance knowing no bounds, only to find that no credible candidate wants to touch him and Manchester United with a bargepole.
Having humiliated Erik ten Hag for so long, with this very public search for his replacement, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Manchester United now finding themselves with nowhere left to turn, apart from to… Erik ten Hag!
Erik ten Hag clearly absolutely loving this.
I take it this is Dutch humour when he is declaring that it is absolutely normal for a Premier League club when they already have a manager, to then go around and make sure everybody knows that you are interviewing numerous candidates to replace the current boss.
Ten Hag then with his comedy punchline that after interviewing all of these candidates, Ratcliffe and Manchester United have decided that actually, we already have the best possible bloke!!! When quite transparently, the only reason Eirk ten Hag is not getting replaced is because nobody will take the Man U job.
Erik ten Hag has got the arrogant bully Ratcliffe and Manchester United totally over a barrel now and he is loving it.
With only one year left on his contract, Manchester United have to now agree an extension, or else ten Hag is a sitting duck and they will look even more ludicrous than they already are. So Man U have to agree the contract extension so they can pretend, that this is indeed all totallly normal and that Erik ten Hag was really who they wanted all along… even though he led them to their worst league position in 33 years and so much at Man U is a shambles.
So now instead of a brave new world and fresh credible manager in place, such as Thomas Tuchel, Manchester United stuck still with Erik ten Hag AND quite clearly they are also going to have to give him a big pay rise to play along!

 
