Erik ten Hag retains the full backing of Manchester United’s football leadership team, despite sporting director Dan Ashworth and CEO Omar Berrada not being involved in the decision to retain the manager.
The 3-0 humbling to Liverpool at Old Trafford on Sunday, the club’s second defeat in their opening three Premier League fixtures, has directed pressure back on the Dutchman.
Ten Hag survived an end-of-season review, led by the club’s co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS sporting director Sir Dave Brailsford, after United recorded their lowest finishing position of the Premier League era.
They also exited the Champions League at the group stage, but finished the campaign by securing FA Cup glory – a second trophy under Ten Hag.
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A lengthy process to determine whether the 54-year-old should keep his job included the club sounding out Thomas Tuchel, Roberto De Zerbi, Mauricio Pochettino, Kieran McKenna and Thomas Frank.
However, the choice was made to stick rather than twist, and a one-year extension in Ten Hag’s contract was triggered, although the coaching staff had a shake up.
Despite the outcome of the review preceding Ashworth and Berrada’s employment with United, the pair insist Ten Hag retains the total faith of the hierarchy.
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They believe him to be a top manager, who now has the structure and expertise in place to properly support him.
“In terms of the contract, that was a decision that was taken prior to both of our arrivals,” Berrada explained in a sit down at Old Trafford in advance of the undressing against Liverpool.
“But we’re very happy with that decision. Erik has our full backing and we have worked very closely together, as Dan has said before, in this transfer window.
“We’re going to continue working very closely with him to help him get the best results out of the team.
“Do we still believe in Erik? Absolutely. We think Erik is the right coach for us and we’re fully backing him.”
Ashworth underscored: “Very rarely do you go into a job as a sporting director and there’s no manager in place. All I can do is reiterate I’ve really enjoyed working with Erik for the last eight weeks.
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“I see my job is to support him in every way I possibly can, and whether that’s operationally, whether that’s with recruitment, whether that’s with medical, whether that’s with psychology, whether that’s training ground flow, it’s just to take as much of that off him to allow him to fully focus on the training pitch and the match tactical plan to deliver success for Manchester United.”
Jason Wilcox, the technical director, is the member of the football leadership team that spends the most time with Ten Hag and is tasked with helping design the game model across the club.
However, Jamie Carragher does not reckon the structure or the recruitment done by United over the summer will alter the way the manager approaches matches.
In a heated debate with Gary Neville live on Sky Sports, he said: “I don’t think anything is going to change in terms of the football.
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“I have seen this before at Liverpool. Go back before Jurgen Klopp came in when there was talk of Brendan Rodgers losing his job after one season. They weren’t sure what to do, FSG [Liverpool’s ownership], and they kept him and Rodgers changed his staff.
“You expect something different, but the manager is the main man. Rodgers was gone in October. Ten Hag said in his interview ‘we will see where we are at the end of the season’.
“I would be surprised if he is still there at the end of the season.”
Neville responded: “I think Ten Hag is going to get until at least Christmas.”
