Sir Jim Ratcliffe made some telling comments about Erik ten Hag’s future, just weeks before the Dutchman was sacked by Manchester United following a poor start to the 2024/25 campaign.
It’s fair to say Sunday’s 2-1 defeat to West Ham was the final straw for United chiefs, who informed Ten Hag of his impending departure on Monday morning.
A short time later, the Premier League club issued a statement to confirm the departure of Ten Hag, who was appointed the permanent successor to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in April 2022.
“Erik ten Hag has left his role as Manchester United men’s first-team manager,” they wrote. “Erik was appointed in April 2022 and led the club to two domestic trophies, winning the Carabao Cup in 2023 and the FA Cup in 2024.”
The statement added: “We are grateful to Erik for everything he has done during his time with us and wish him well for the future.”
It was also confirmed that Ruud van Nistelrooy will take charge of the team as interim head coach whilst a permanent head coach is recruited. Xavi, Ruben Amorim, Thomas Frank and Edin Terzic have been linked.
Given their poor form of late, United’s decision shouldn’t come as much of surprise – especially given Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s comments at the start of October.
Earlier this month, Ratcliffe has refused to give Ten Hag assurances over his future.
Asked by the BBC whether he still had faith in the Dutch manager, the INEOS owner said he supported Ten Hag but added that a decision over his future was not his to make.
“I don’t want to answer that question… I like Erik,” said Ratcliffe.
“I think he’s a very good coach but at the end of the day it’s not my call, it’s the management team that’s running Manchester United that have to decide how we best run the team in many different respects.
“But that team that’s running Manchester United has only been together since June or July. They weren’t there in January, February, March or April – [CEO] Omar [Berrada], [Sporting Director] Dan Ashworth – they only arrived in July.
“They’ve only been there… you can count it in weeks almost – they’ve not been there a long time so they need to take stock and make some sensible decisions.”
Image credit: Getty
Ratcliffe: “Our objective is very clear – we want to take Manchester United back to where it should be, and it’s not there yet, obviously – that’s very clear.”
United currently sit 14th in the Premier League after picking up just three wins from a possible nine.