“What a mess” – Man United owners told they “lost their nerve” over Erik ten Hag



Manchester United’s owners INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe have been slammed by Manchester Evening News journalist Samuel Luckhurst over the way they handled Erik ten Hag’s sacking.

Remarkably, the Dutch tactician, who has today been sacked by Man Utd, was only given a new contract 116 days ago after guiding the club to victory in the FA Cup final against Manchester City.

Many at the time will have felt Ten Hag should have been sacked at that point, allowing him to go out on a high and giving a new manager the chance to rebuild with a full pre-season at Old Trafford.

See below as Luckhurst hits out at how the United ownership have handled the whole situation, describing it as a “mess” and accusing Ratcliffe and co. of losing their nerve…

So 116 days after Ineos triggered the one-year extension in Ten Hag's contract, they sack him. He should have gone after the FA Cup final but the power brokers lost their nerve and the main decision-maker was a guy who used to run a cycling team. What a mess. #mufc

— Samuel Luckhurst (@samuelluckhurst) October 28, 2024

Erik ten Hag is finally gone, but who’s next for Manchester United?

Now that the Ten Hag situation has been resolved, albeit in rather chaotic style, it will be interesting to see who comes next for MUFC.

Erik ten Hag has been sacked by Sir Jim Ratcliffe (Photos by Carl Recine, Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

Ruud van Nistelrooy has been placed in charge temporarily, having worked as Ten Hag’s assistant at the start of this season.

But in the long term, United surely need a more experienced name at the helm, and we’ve already seen plenty of links in recent times, with names like Xavi, Ruben Amorim and Julian Nagelsmann being mentioned.


 

Ten Hag certainly proved underwhelming for United, but he’s far from the only manager or player to struggle at United in this difficult post-Sir Alex Ferguson period.

Numerous big names have been brought in to try to turn things around for the club, but whether it’s proven winners like Jose Mourinho and world class players like Paul Pogba and Cristiano Ronaldo, nothing has quite worked out.

Sacking Ten Hag might, therefore, not be the solution United need, even if it also makes sense that the ownership now felt they had little choice but to make a change.