Sir Jim Ratcliffe gathers Man United chiefs – and Gary Neville – at Old Trafford for talks, with under-pressure Erik ten Hag’s future and a new £2BILLION stadium on the agenda as Thomas Tuchel waits in the wings

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has brought together Man United bosses, as well as former player Gary Neville, at Old Trafford for talks, with Erik ten Hag’s future as manager under fire and a new £2 billion stadium high on the agenda.

The Dutchman appears to be closing in on the door after a dismal start to the season, which leaves the 13-time Premier League champions in 14th place with just eight points from seven games – their worst ever start in the competition.

Two draws in the past week, including a 3-3 stalemate against Porto in the Europa League and a goalless afternoon against Aston Villa yesterday, set up a series of defeats but did little to keep Ten Hag’s position stable.

Meanwhile, plans for a new Old Trafford stadium took another step forward last month when the first images of a possible regeneration were revealed.

With all this chaos in the air in Manchester, Sir Jim has been photographed walking into United’s home ground this afternoon for crucial meetings with Joel Glazer and other chiefs.

The discussions will take place ahead of Tuesday’s planned board meeting in London. The club must decide whether to leave Ten Hag behind or take advantage of the international break by changing managers.

It is understood they are in no rush to make that decision and sources say no major developments are expected on Monday.

Minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe watched United’s goalless draw against Aston Villa with managing director Sir Dave Brailsford, CEO Omar Berrada, sporting director Dan Ashworth and technical director Jason Wilcox on Sunday.

Discussions about Ten Hag’s future continued into Monday and will be back on the agenda when co-chairman Joel Glazer, chief operating officer Collette Roche and chief financial officer Roger Bell join them for Tuesday’s executive committee meeting.

United are wary of fueling speculation over Ten Hag’s future after Thomas Tuchel and Simone Inzaghi were linked with the job if he is sacked after two-and-a-half years in charge at Old Trafford.

Ratcliffe is known as an admirer of Tuchel and met the German coach in Monaco over the summer when Ten Hag’s future for the FA Cup final was in doubt.

Tuchel is still available, but it is unclear whether the obstacles that prevented him from replacing Ten Hag can now be overcome.

Money was said to be one of them. It is understood there has been no new contact between United and its representatives at this stage.

Tuchel’s possible appointment would see him return to the Premier League as a manager for the first time since leaving Chelsea in 2022.

While in West London, Tuchel won the Champions League in his first season at the club. The German also won the Club World Cup during his stay in the English capital.

Tuchel left Bayern in the summer but the club considered a turnaround before appointing Vincent Kompany.

The other obvious option for United is to appoint Ten Hag’s new assistant Ruud van Nistelrooy as interim boss.

The former United striker returned to Old Trafford as part of a summer shake-up of the coaching team after gaining managerial experience at PSV Eindhoven. Van Nistelrooy has gotten to know the players and staff and is highly respected within the club.

Otherwise, the landscape has changed little since June, when United decided keeping Ten Hag was the best course of action and gave him a one-year contract extension.

Former England boss Gareth Southgate is now available, but the other candidates discussed and discarded at the time – Thomas Frank, Roberto De Zerbi, Graham Potter, Mauricio Pochettino, Kieran McKenna and Marco Silva – are largely the same.

United are helped by the fact that there is no clamor for Ten Hag to go among the supporters, and no sense of inevitability as there was with Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

He has recovered from the 3-0 debacle at home to Tottenham by drawing two difficult away games against FC Porto and Villa.

But after a low-ever eighth finish in the Premier League last season, United are currently in 14th place thanks to their worst start after seven games, and that has once again raised alarm bells.

Although Ten Hag insists he has the backing of his employers, he said the same thing in the summer when United interviewed other managers, and Ratcliffe refused to give the Dutchman his public backing when asked last week.

Although the Ineos billionaire says a decision on Ten Hag’s future is ‘not my decision’, it is believed he, Brailsford and Joel Glazer will have the final say based on the recommendations of Berrada, Ashworth and Wilcox.

As if the management crisis at Old Trafford wasn’t enough, the future of the stadium itself remains just as hot after new photos were released last month showing what a future regeneration could look like.

Last month it was confirmed that the Red Devils wanted to go ahead with a new ground in the same area as Old Trafford, rather than redeveloping the current 74,000-seater stadium.

Mail Sport revealed in August that the club has appointed renowned British architect Sir Norman Foster to create the blueprint to renew the club-owned area.

The 89-year-old’s company, Foster and Partners, began work on initial proposals for the transformative project which would center on a £2 billion, 100,000 capacity ‘Wembley of the North’.

And in a new update on proceedings, the first designs of a revamped area were made public at a Labor Party conference in Liverpool in September.