Doubled Dutch
Sir Jim Ratcliffe reveals why he kept Erik ten Hag after Man Utd boss ‘tried to fix leaks in the roof’
Ratcliffe had a peculiar analogy for describing how he acquired his Man Utd shares
SIR JIM RATCLIFFE has revealed the reason why Manchester United opted to keep Erik ten Hag on as manager.
During a dismal season at Old Trafford, Ratcliffe and his Ineos company took over sporting control of Man Utd, before they decided to keep under pressure Ten Hag following FA Cup glory at the end of the season.
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Boyhood Man Utd fan Ratcliffe has got to work straight away in trying to restore the club to its former glory, with plans for a rebuild of both the squad and first-team facilities - including a new stadium - well underway.
The billionaire describes the process as a "clean sweep", which has seen many staff behind the scenes allegedly leave the club by mutual consent.
However, this did not extend to the man most responsible for getting results on the pitch.
Instead, Ratcliffe revealed the reason he found some sympathy for the former Ajax manager.
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Speaking to The Times, the 71-year-old said: "We’ve got some very good people and some fresh faces.
"You can’t put your head in the sand, you have to face facts.
"It needed a fresh start, so that’s what we’ve done.
"Erik is a good guy and had been doing his best, but doing too much.
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"He was trying to sort out the squad and fix leaks in the roof at the same time."
In his interview - conducted just 25 miles from the Arctic Circle in Iceland - Ractliffe also revealed he is keeping a video diary for the future for an as-yet-untitled documentary.
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He also opened up on the long and hard process of acquiring his 27.7 per cent share in the Red Devils, comparing it to fishing for a salmon.
He said: "[It took] enormous patience — it was on the line for a long time."
He added: "I think we tried and tried many, many different permutations to do a transaction with the Glazer family, and for one reason or another [each] had their challenges or obstacles so in the end we did the deal that we could do.
"At the end of the day, in my view, the key thing is to just have a good relationship with the other owners, which are the Glazer family — the six siblings.
"You know, they’re really good people. And they are passionate about the club.
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"The key is not the legal agreements.
"The key is that we have common objectives, which are to see Manchester United be successful, and that we trust each other."
Ten Hag's side lost out on penalties in the Community Shield yesterday despite arguably being the better team over the 90-minute Wembley season curtain raiser.
Man Utd kick off the Premier League season when they host Fulham on Friday evening.
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After bringing in Joshua Zirkzee and Leny Yoro, they are expected to welcome Bayern Munich duo Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui following medicals tomorrow.
Meanwhile, a new central midfielder is also being targeted, with names such as Manuel Ugarte, Sander Berge and Youssouf Fofana linked.
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