Sir Jim Ratcliffe was asked why he kept Erik ten Hag at Manchester United during new interview

Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has clarified the decision to retain Erik ten Hag as the first-team manager.

After two and a half weeks since United’s FA Cup final victory over Manchester City, it was officially announced that Ten Hag would continue his role at Old Trafford following an end-of-season review.

The Dutch manager faced significant scrutiny after United finished eighth in the Premier League, marking the club’s worst-ever league finish. Consequently, United’s owners, INEOS, reportedly held discussions with several managers about potentially replacing Ten Hag, including Thomas Tuchel and Mauricio Pochettino.

However, both parties ultimately decided to continue Ten Hag’s tenure. Ratcliffe, speaking at The Times CEO Summit, explained the rationale behind this decision. When asked why they kept faith in Ten Hag, Ratcliffe said, “Erik? Because he’s a good coach. He was very good at Ajax. He was actually at Bayern Munich…” Ratcliffe was then interrupted by another question about the significance of the coach in a team’s success.

Ratcliffe responded, “The man in the street likes to think that the coach is everything and that everything revolves around the coach, and maybe it did in the days of Alex Ferguson. But if you look at those 11 seasons at Manchester United we’ve had a whole series of coaches, and some of them are very good ones, we’ve probably had seven coaches and none of them have succeeded at all. You can’t prescribe the root of the problem to the coach. It’s the environment they’re working in. That’s where we are putting our efforts — the management, the practices, the quality of the people, all those types of things that we have to address at Manchester United — which is what we would do in [any] business.”

Ratcliffe’s remarks follow his recent interview with Bloomberg, where he stated that the coach “isn’t the central issue at Manchester United.” He elaborated, “It’s a sports club. It needs to be competitive, it needs a degree of intensity, but with a supportive side to it because you are dealing with players who are relatively young. It hasn’t had that type of environment historically.”

Ten Hag, speaking with Dutch broadcaster NOS during the Euro 2024 match between England and Serbia, commented on his future at United, saying, “Manchester United and I still have to find an agreement for the new contract. This isn’t easily done, we are still going to have to talk about this. United have told me that they spoke with [Thomas] Tuchel, but they eventually came to the conclusion that they already have the best manager.”

Ten Hag also confirmed a meeting with club officials in Ibiza to discuss his future. “Manchester United disturbed my holiday, they suddenly stood at my doorstep. They flew to me in Ibiza,” he said. “INEOS took their time. They are new in football, it’s normal to reflect the season. It’s no secret that they talked with multiple candidates. Here in Holland this is ‘not done,’ in fact, it’s not even allowed here. But in England they have different rules and laws. As in any organisation, and that seems very sensible to me, there is an evaluation. Conclusions were drawn from there. The new leadership is playing football for the first time.”