One reason why Manchester United should not hand Erik Ten Hag a new deal

In the end, Manchester United decided it was better to stick than to twist.

A long, protracted and embarrassing review of Erik Ten Hag’s reign by new minority shareholder INEOS has determined that, contrary to reports before the FA Cup final that the Dutchman was to be sacked, the incumbent will stay on.

In terms of votes of confidence, this was pretty unconvincing.

Widespread media reports questioned the United boss’s future for weeks after winning the cup and it was well documented that talks had taken place with former Bayern Munich boss Thomas Tuchel.

When they broke down, former Brighton & Hove Albion manager Roberto De Zerbi also appeared, as did Mauricio Pochettino, Thomas Frank and Kieran McKenna.

You can imagine how unedifying the spectacle must have been for Manchester United manager Erik Ten Hag.

He cut a defiant figure in the post-match celebrations after beating rivals Manchester City in the FA Cup, but he must have known he was in for a fight.

“If they don’t want me anymore, I’ll go anywhere else to win trophies because that’s what I’ve done my whole career,” he told the press after the match.

“I’m in a project and we’re exactly where we want to be. We are building a team.

“When I took over it was a mess at United. We are about to build a team for the future. We will go with the ups and downs.

“What you see is the team developing, the team winning, at the end of the day it’s about winning trophies.”

The reality he and everyone else knew was that a day in the sun that delivered a trophy against the club’s fiercest rivals did not erase a humiliatingly poor campaign.

An eighth-placed finish condemned United to their lowest finishing position in the Premier League era and a point tally just two better than their worst in the same period.

It was a season of bad losses and porous defense that added the additional record of negative goals for the first time in 34 years.

Placed in a Champions League group with Bayern Munich, FC Copenhagen and Galatasaray, the Red Devils had a disastrous exit from Europe’s top competition.

So it was understandable that Ten Hag would come under scrutiny. What is strange is that after deciding to stick with their coach, the owners seem to be doubling down on offering him a new contract.

Sky Sports have reported that the Dutchman is not only backed to continue but it is a “priority” to tie him down for longer, and the Telegraph have suggested he is on the brink of a two-year deal.

The question is why?

A rod for Ten Hag’s back

If Manchester United’s new minority shareholders INEOS and their leader Sir Jim Ratcliffe needed further evidence of the short-term reactionary nature of the football business, the end of the season provided it.

Given that the Red Devils had just recorded one of their worst seasons in three decades, reviewing the decisions that led to this dismal performance was not an unexpected process.

But an impressive day against the Premier League champions in the FA Cup final completely changed the outside outlook, with the questions asked of Ten Hag’s choices suddenly determined not to be as appropriate as in the weeks leading up to the game.

Now it’s easy to assume that a new contract will be overwhelmingly positive, but there have been conflicting reports about whether the deal will set different terms to operate Ten Hag.

The suggestion is that Ten Hag has asked to retain control over transfers and maintain his position of power at the club, which is the opposite of reports of INEOS’ intentions before. The message was that the manager needed to get lost.

This was a logical conclusion given that since arriving at Manchester United, the Dutchman has been handed some significant sums to recruit players he knows well.

Anthony, Lisandro Martinez and Andre Onana were acquired for a combined cost of over $200 million.

However, the jury is still out on whether any of them can still be considered a success at the club. That would be cause for concern in itself, but the truth is that Ten Hag’s strength in managing his team went far beyond acquisitions.

Since joining United, he has scrapped the services of a superstar who earns more than $500,000 a week and a $91 million signing.

The removals of both Cristiano Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho were not sporting decisions, they were frozen out by the Ten Hag due to personal off-field disputes with the man himself.

At a modest estimate, the totality of Ten Hag’s decisions equates to costs equivalent to half of Manchester United’s annual revenue, all made by one man.

Given that he could be dropped just as easily as either player, it seems wise not to persist with such a strategy.

It certainly runs counter to the vision set out by INEOS boss Sir Jim Ratcliffe, detailed by the billionaire after acquiring a 25% stake in the club.

“The solution is not to spend a lot of money on a few great players. They have done that for the last 10 years. The first thing we have to do is get the right people in the right boxes, who manage and organize the club and make sure that we recruit right It’s a vital part of running a football club today, finding new players.

He should remember that before you give Ten Hag a new deal or cede the same level of control as in the past.