Erik ten Hag is secure at Manchester United for the foreseeable future unless he oversees a run of particularly dire results, because the immediate priority for Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sir Dave Brailsford is to get to the bottom of what is required to turn the club around.
Ratcliffe and Brailsford are first intent on analysing the makeup of the playing squad, executive and staff, the club’s structure and how revenue is invested in the team to understand the best way to achieve their ambition of making United domestic and continental challengers again.
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Only at the end of the process will any decision be made on Ten Hag’s future, unless the team endure a sequence of alarming results and displays.
The manager is having a difficult campaign, hampered by serial injuries and illness, a disciplinary issue regarding Jadon Sancho and legal and other matters concerning Antony. United have been knocked out of the Carabao Cup and Europe and are eighth in the Premier League, nine points behind fourth-placed Arsenal.
Ratcliffe, whose purchase of a 25% stake in United became official on Christmas Eve, and Brailsford held their first face-to-face meetings with Ten Hag and other staff this week. Brailsford, the Ineos director of sport, has a place on the club board and is operating as the businessman’s go-to executive at United.
Ten Hag said his talks with Ratcliffe and Brailsford were “very positive” and that “on many issues we were on the same page”.
