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6 months ago
38 In a column for Caught Offside that is released every two weeks, former football agent and advisor to clubs Jon Smith shares his thoughts on the beautiful game. This week the focus was on Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag.
There has been a lot of debate over whether United should stick or bust when it comes to Ten Hag. Fans shouldn’t expect a quick fix one way or another.
Smith argues there are cogent reasons for United to stick with Ten Hag beyond this season.
“It becomes evident that there’s a lot of take away from what’s going on at Man United at the moment under the new regime,” as per CaughtOffside.
“Staff who were previously working from home some of the time are encouraged not to do that because they might not have a job. There’s people that were working on three day weeks now working five day weeks because they might not have a job….
“There’s obviously some financial rationale going on there and if I’m Sir Jim Ratcliffe, I’m looking at the managerial situation with the first-team and thinking ‘okay, where do we go with this appointment? It has to be superb and I’m looking around looking for Mr. Superb and I’m struggling to find him.
“Then, given that it’s going to cost a lot of money to get rid of Erik ten Hag and reinvest in the squad anyway, it’s tempting to believe that Sir Jim could quite possibly decide to work with the Dutchman because he knows the team and he knows the squad.
“If, in a few months time, he still can’t do it, then United will regroup again. After all, the development of the squad is going to take 4-5 years regardless.
“There’s a European Championship coming up of course, and there may be better managers leaving their posts around then, as well as younger managers coming through.
“The Roberto De Zerbi’s of this world will be getting their brownie points, but there’s not enough choice out there.
“There is, evidently in my head, a school of thought where ten Hag stays and United start rebuilding under him. In three months time something could change as other opportunities could emerge and other managers may become available.
“We have to wait and see what happens in the Euros but I could understand why United would keep hold of ten Hag.”
Smith is right about the current market for managers. As we can see from Bayern Munich’s search for a new manager, the German giants are struggling to find a replacement for Thomas Tuchel.
There is nobody jumping out.
That’s why I think United should wait and give Ten Hag a third season in charge, with a proper football structure built around him. Otherwise it will feel like the Dutchman left Old Trafford despite having unfinished business to attend.
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