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CLIFFE HANGER
Why Erik ten Hag could soon win Man Utd the Premier League title… if Sir Jim Ratcliffe changes his mind
Ratcliffe is set to make a final decision on Ten Hag's future in the coming days
IT is a truth universally acknowledged that Manchester United cannot possibly decide Erik ten Hag’s future on the basis of a single match.
But why not?
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Why not, when that single match saw them win football’s grandest domestic knockout competition by defeating the best team on the planet, thanks to their manager’s tactical acumen.
There is no doubt that Ten Hag would have been sacked had — as expected — United lost Saturday’s FA Cup final to Manchester City.
But United did win 2-1 at Wembley. Ten Hag did outwit Pep Guardiola by setting up his side without a centre-forward.
And United did look a half-decent team once they had a couple of fit first-choice central defenders — as the Dutchman always argued they would.
So why shouldn’t Sir Jim Ratcliffe change his mind on the basis of all that?
Isn’t winning silverware what football is about?
The vast majority of United fans would have preferred a trophy to Champions League qualification, given a straight choice.
And we cannot spend several months talking up the magic of the FA Cup, only to brand the identity of the winners as irrelevant come May.
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Of course, United’s campaign has been poor overall — a worst-ever eighth-place Premier League finish, a negative goal difference and finishing bottom of their Champions League group.
United’s players admitted their season hadn’t been good enough in an unusual joint statement.
Erik ten Hag in blunt three-word response as Man Utd boss is asked whether he's been treated unfairly
The managerial situation would be different if Ratcliffe, United’s new football supremo, had a clear vision for the club’s future, with a successor to Ten Hag identified and readied for arrival.
Instead, Ratcliffe and Co have been sounding out every Tom, Dick and Harry — from Mauricio Pochettino to Kieran McKenna to Thomas Tuchel to Thomas Frank to Roberto De Zerbi.
Gareth Southgate and Graham Potter are also highly-regarded among the collection of green-fingered executives currently on gardening leave at rival clubs before arriving at Old Trafford.
Meanwhile, Ten Hag, with two trophies in as many seasons, is left swinging in the wind.
There is no bus parade for Erik, just a long wait on a sunbed for the likely arrival of the Spanish archer.
Only Manchester United could manage to win a major trophy in impressive style and finish the weekend looking a complete shambles.
But that is where we are thanks to Ratcliffe and Co managing to look simultaneously heartless and hopeless in their treatment of Ten Hag.
There was no name-check for the manager in the Ineos billionaire’s triumphant post-final statement.
Ten Hag was admirably strident
Just as there has been no backing for Ten Hag in the five months since Ratcliffe purchased a 27.7 per cent stake in United and took over their footballing operation.
Ten Hag was admirably strident in his post-match comments after the final. He has taken a huge amount of flak all season, from ex-players in TV studios and the likes of me, so why not give some back?
To paraphrase — if United don’t want him, he’ll go somewhere else and win trophies as he’d always done; Roy Keane failed as a manager (a brave thing to say to Keane’s face) and the club was a mess when he arrived.
All fair points, well made.
And while no manager ever wants to rely on the sympathy vote, Ten Hag certainly gained the sympathy of a vast swathe of United supporters this weekend — as a winner, who is being openly disrespected by his bosses.
Sir Jim and his new regime were welcomed as liberating heroes by United fans in mid-season — just as anyone lessening the influence of the Glazers would have been.
Yet he has torched much of that goodwill with his shabby handling of Ten Hag’s future.
The pros and cons of Ten Hag’s reign have been well argued.
His first season was good, his second season was ravaged by an injury crisis, especially in defence.
But the £85.5million signing of Antony has been a disaster, the handling of Jadon Sancho — who will contest Saturday’s Champions League final on loan at Borussia Dortmund — is an embarrassment, while United have too often lacked an attacking gameplan.
Still, despite such a dismal league campaign and despite so many issues remaining within the squad, United have been presented with a chance to make a genuine challenge for the Premier League title before long.
After his arrival, Ratcliffe made a ballsy statement about wanting to ‘knock City and Liverpool off their perch’, which was met with widespread derision.
But the exit of Jurgen Klopp from Anfield, and Guardiola’s likely departure from the Etihad next summer, will allow the rest of the Premier League’s wealthiest contenders to hold more realistic title ambitions.
The opportunity is there for Ratcliffe as long as he identifies the right manager.
And could that manager be the bloke who has just won him the FA Cup?
It's starting to look like Sir Jim Ratcliffe doesn't know what he's doing
By Neil Custis
SIR JIM RATCLIFFE looked more than a little shame-faced when he headed into Manchester United’s dressing room to congratulate his FA Cup winners.
The plan had already been hatched ahead of Saturday’s 2-1 win over Manchester City . . . and this was all rather awkward.
It was a stunning performance from Ten Hag’s troops and United’s triumph over a team widely regarded as the best in the world will live long in the memory.
It was also a personal triumph for the unassuming guy who had arrived at Old Trafford full of life and ideas to make United better — which in many ways he has.
Having been dealt a dreadful hand with injuries in his second season, he tried to explain to Ratcliffe and his team just how much this has affected performances.
But it seems Sir Jim hasn’t listened. Nor has he taken notice of the way Ten Hag has carefully brought Saturday’s scorers Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo into the first team — with spectacular results.
Ratcliffe has fired out emails criticising the state of an office, called the club museum ‘crap’ and withdrew travel and lunch benefits for United staff on FA Cup final day to cut costs.
There is early proof the new men overseeing United’s football department do not know what they are doing, not least in the way they deal with people . . . including the most important one of all — the manager.
Ratcliffe and his team seem to have spoken to anyone able to set up Subbuteo.
And everyone they have spoken to believes they have got the job.
North going south in Prem
AFTER Leeds’ defeat by Southampton in the Championship play-off final, there will be fewer northern clubs in the top flight next season than at any time in English league football history.
The Manchester clubs, Liverpool, Everton and Newcastle will be the only five northern sides — as opposed to 11 from the south and four Midlands clubs.
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Former top-flight regulars such as the Sheffield clubs, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Blackburn, Burnley, Bolton, Stoke, Wigan and Hull have been wiped off the Premier League map.
With northern clubs outside the three major footballing cities struggling to attract the wealthiest owners — and therefore the best players — there is little prospect of any ‘levelling up’ in football’s north-south divide.
A step too Far for Dan
SPARE a thought for Daniel Farke, who is facing the sack at Leeds, despite accumulating 90 points and leading his team to third place and a narrow play-off final defeat.
Especially given the career trajectories of the two managers who pipped him to promotion - Leicester’s Enzo Maresca is heading for Chelsea, while Ipswich’s Kieran McKenna attracted interest from the Stamford Bridge club as well as Manchester United and Brighton.
And that’s without even mentioning relegated Burnley boss Vinny Kompany taking over at Bayern Munich.
Grealish in the party
SHOULD Jack Grealish make the England squad for the Euros? Of course he should.
Not because Manchester City’s £100million man would get much game time.
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But because, if Gareth Southgate’s men win the tournament, nobody would be more fun than Grealish on an open-top bus parade.
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Let him play Murr
ANDY MURRAY’S straight sets first-round French Open defeat against his fellow veteran Stan Wawrinka has increased calls for the three-time Grand Slam winner to call it a day.
If Murray still enjoys playing professional tennis at the age of 37 and without any realistic hope of recapturing former glories, then that is his absolute right.
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