Did the FA Cup save Erik ten Hag, as legend tells us it once saved Sir Alex Ferguson? No not really.
The truth is that Manchester United searched the football landscape and couldn’t find an upgrade. So Ten Hag stays. Bruised and maybe a little ashamed. Definitely undermined and now sure of the shaky ground he stands on. But alive and working and no doubt ready to try and prove everyone – and even the Premier League standings – wrong.
To be clear, the circle of Manchester United advisers and Sir Jim Ratcliffe who now run it had every right to do the things they did.
They had the right to look for a new manager and to talk to any people they felt needed. Companies should always try to improve and trade.
Stagnant football clubs are overtaken rather quickly and United was in danger – and still is – of being swallowed up by the pack.
Erik ten Hag will take charge of Manchester United next season following INEOS’ decision
After an assessment, Sir Jim Ratcliffe (centre right) and his INEOS hierarchy decided to support Ten Hag
Ratcliffe and Co were acting in United’s best interests in their bid to replace the Dutchman
So yes, United were right to look around. Why wouldn’t they? And they had the right to do so, while Ten Hag was still on site. Firing a manager and then looking for a replacement makes no sense.
Despite a rather anomalous FA Cup final, in which they beat Manchester City with 25 percent of the ball, last season was a shambles. There were extenuating circumstances, largely in the form of injury problems. But it was still a mess. United looked uncoached and unmanaged for much of the campaign and the blame for that lies with Ten Hag.
Ratcliffe and Co acted in the best interests of the football club in their bid to replace their Dutch coach. By now realizing that there is no excellent candidate to fill his shoes, they have also made a wise choice. Change for change’s sake rarely works in football.
So United have held their nerve and there is something to be said for that. In their attempts to rebuild and repurpose United, Ratcliffe’s INEOS are playing the long game. They have no choice. So giving Ten Hag some more time – and not paying attention to a new contract, because they mean nothing – will not kill them in the long term.
However, INEOS has still embarrassed itself. Their motives may have been pure, but their behavior was that of naive amateurs rather than the elite sporting group they claim to be.
A decision about Ten Hag should have been made before the cup final. One trophy – one achievement – changes nothing. Their ‘end of season review’ should have been completed by the time United took the field against City at Wembley. Hanging or turning, they should have known and dealt with it quickly.
The delay has cost them credibility in the eyes of their supporters and, in all likelihood, their manager. It was as painful as it was almost unprecedented to see Ten Hag dangling from a string for the past two and a half weeks.
The trickle of information that has been leaking so steadily from all those alternative coaches they have spoken to has hardly helped INEOS either. Another bad look. Is there a manager in Europe who hasn’t had a pat on the back from Ratcliffe and his team in the last four weeks? It seems not.
What INEOS now knows is that confidential conversations in football are not always easy to obtain. United’s list of possible replacements is so public that they might as well have placed an advertisement in the Manchester Evenings News and invited applications.
INEOS was right to look around, but the handling of it could have been better
United’s season was a major disappointment that was glossed over by their FA Cup victory
However, INEOS’ decision to postpone Ten Hag’s fate may have lost their credibility with him
If Ten Hag’s football has been clumsy and a bit obvious at times over the past ten months, so has the behavior of those who now hold the future of England’s biggest football club in their hands.
Tan Hag will have to improve if he wants to stay longer than the autumn. That includes Ratcliffe and INEOS if they ever want to unseat Manchester United again.