Ten Hag sack ‘matter of weeks’ as Man Utd owner Ratcliffe identifies three ‘possible successors’
According to reports, Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has three managers in mind with current boss Erik ten Hag under increasing pressure.
Liverpool beat Man Utd 3-0 at Old Trafford on Sunday, leaving Ten Hag facing down the barrel only three games into the 2024/25 season.
The Red Devils kicked the off the campaign with an underwhelming but deserved 1-0 victory at home to Fulham before defeats to Brighton and Arne Slot’s side.
Ten Hag essentially saved himself from the sack by winning the 2024 FA Cup final against rivals Manchester City.
The club’s league campaign was historically bad, finishing eighth with a negative goal difference – their worst ever Premier League finish.
You can say Ratcliffe put his faith in the Dutch manager following the FA Cup triumph but he was left with little choice in the end.
The British billionaire reportedly spoke to Thomas Tuchel and was very keen on appointing then England manager Gareth Southgate, but neither were available and he ended up offering Ten Hag a new contract.
Ten Hag was publicly backed by Red Devils CEO Omar Berrada and sporting director Dan Ashworth in a statement written before the humiliating home defeat to arch-rivals Liverpool, but published after.
Behind the scenes might be a different story, with several Ten Hag sack reports surfacing this week.
It has been reported by the Daily Mail that Tuchel would be Ratcliffe’s number-one choice should he decide to move on from Ten Hag.
Meanwhile, reports from Spain suggest that the former Chelsea head coach is ‘very popular’ at Old Trafford.
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Man Utd: Erik ten Hag out, Thomas Tuchel in?
Another report coming out of Spain has linked Tuchel with the Man Utd job, with two other names in the conversation.
It is claimed that ‘three coaches are already being talked about to replace Ten Hag’ with the former Ajax manager’s ‘future hanging in the balance’.
With ‘patience seeming to be running out’, the club’s board are ‘exploring alternatives to replace Ten Hag in case results do not improve’.
Ten Hag’s ‘possible successors’ are Tuchel, Graham Potter or Joachim Low – who managed Germany to World Cup success in 2014.
All three are currently available and ‘would be willing to take on the challenge of revitalising a team that seems lost in its own labyrinth’.
It is emphasised that no decision has been made by Ratcliffe or his minions, though ‘it is increasingly signalled’ that the Dutchman will lose his job. He is joint-first in the Premier League sack race with Everton’s Sean Dyche.
Ten Hag is apparently losing his ‘defenders’ at Old Trafford due to his team’s performances on the pitch and ‘the shadow of a change in the dugout looms’ as a result.
There is talk of the 54-year-old only having ‘a matter of weeks’ to save his job and if results do not improve, Ratcliffe is expected to ‘decide to take a new direction’.
Indeed, ‘the next matches are going to be very important for the decision on the continuity of Ten Hag’, with Ruud van Nistelrooy among the favourites to replace his compatriot.
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