Erik ten Hag - Manchester United manager

[romufc]

I can't say I'm impressed with how this is being handled now. Still early, so still time for a conclusion to this today, or at least the first half of this week. Nothing being leaked either, which I suppose is actually a positive.

Its strange how a managerial review can take this long. Surely they have all the data required, they have met with players and staff prior to the end.

We will be going into Euros, where the usual excuses will come out "players and managers have Euros, so lets wait till end"

Thereafter "they are on holiday, cant make decisions"

If this isn't resolved this week, I will be worried about the INEOS tenure. They came out with good intent and words "want to get things done earlier" yet it feels like the same United.

 

[pcaming]

I can't say I'm impressed with how this is being handled now. Still early, so still time for a conclusion to this today, or at least the first half of this week. Nothing being leaked either, which I suppose is actually a positive.

It's really poor at this point., how can you be so afraid to make a decision?

 

[Marcelinho87]

The problem most people have here is lack of communication or leaks - maybe INEOS just wanna keep it all in house and if nothing is happening no reason to say anything.

people keep going on about rumours and questions about EtHs future and the media harping on but where? The only place I see going on about this is here and X - the actual journos and channels are quiet about it.

Maybe INEOS ending the leak culture is a good thing.

 

[glazed]

and that's especially true when you are not a heavy possession team, heavy possession teams can play way higher because their game is built around slower build up and very few turnovers.

Isn't that the point. We're supposed to get and keep possession by pressing high when we lose the ball and then scoring quickly off the back? It seems beyond obvious you can't high press if your defence doesn't push up though. I'm surprised that's a matter of debate. Yes your midfield has to work a lot harder too. Everyone does. Probably why these high press teams need constant renewal.

 

[NLunited]

Asking Ten Hag to walk is like asking Biden to pardon Trump.

Ten Hag is on vacation and has recorded a message on his answering service. Something like ‘I’m not answering calls right now; I’m basking in the sun and in winning the FA Cup, feck Cheaty’.

 

[msjmohd83]

too long already feels like the Sheikh Jassim VS SJR takeover again

 

[The Firestarter]

Asking Ten Hag to walk is like asking Biden to pardon Trump.

Ten Hag is on vacation and has recorded a message on his answering service. Something like ‘I’m not answering calls right now; I’m basking in the sun and in winning the FA Cup, feck Cheaty’.

You are really original. Dont stop making jokes no matter what people say to you.

 

[romufc]

The problem most people have here is lack of communication or leaks - maybe INEOS just wanna keep it all in house and if nothing is happening no reason to say anything.

people keep going on about rumours and questions about EtHs future and the media harping on but where? The only place I see going on about this is here and X - the actual journos and channels are quiet about it.

Maybe INEOS ending the leak culture is a good thing.

Not really. There were numerous "leaks" before the final that regardless of the result he is getting sacked.

Or maybe INEOS are too shook to make a decision either way.

 

[pocco]

Reporters said that INEOS told them that they wanted to conduct this review, so I can't see a way they don't communicate a decision in some way. If he stays, obviously they could say nothing, but I think they will at least give 2 or 3 journalists a decision and reasons, and let them filter out the news.

 

[Doracle]

Have to admit, I’m surprised this isn’t resolved yet. I assumed he would be sacked more or less immediately following the Cup final.

Both Van Gaal and Mourinho were announced as being appointed during May, so we are already in a situation where this is the latest we will have announced a summer manager change post-Fergie.

Starting to feel we will probably be keeping ETH for another season.

 

[Marcelinho87]

Not really. There were numerous "leaks" before the final that regardless of the result he is getting sacked.

Or maybe INEOS are too shook to make a decision either way.

Leaks or guesses? I think the time of leaks have ended and the journos are going to hate it.

 

[romufc]

Reporters said that INEOS told them that they wanted to conduct this review, so I can't see a way they don't communicate a decision in some way. If he stays, obviously they could say nothing, but I think they will at least give 2 or 3 journalists a decision and reasons, and let them filter out the news.

They will have to communicate. The way they have dealt with this, 0 comments on the manager, the big oh we will conduct a review. So, when you conduct a review, you expect a conclusion to be communicated.

 

[romufc]

Leaks or guesses? I think the time of leaks have ended and the journos are going to hate it.

Only time will tell, lets not judge this without any evidence.

We can come back to this end of summer and see if it has ended or not.

 

[evil_geko]

It's really poor at this point., how can you be so afraid to make a decision?

Who says they didn't make the decision? Maybe they just don't give a feck about informing the fecking media about it. Which I support, feck the press.

 

[7even]

The problem with that is going into another season with such a big decision still hanging in the balance. If they think he's the right man then they need to put their money where their mouth is and back him, give him a contract extension etc. If it were a new manager then he wouldn't be getting until Christmas to prove himself, as they would have chosen that new manager based on their own assessments. So ETH should be the same, either he is the man they want for the medium to long term, or he needs to go. No more 'let's judge at Christmas' etc.

The day to release him from his duties was last Monday, a few days after our FA cup final.

They will not sack him more then a week after the season is over and they’re in no stress to extend his contract. They will probably have a conversation when the new season starts and both parties feel more comfortable with moving forward. It’s can be in July, after Christmas or when next season is over. As long as those people in charge and Ten Hag has trust in each other it can be done whenever they want.

I was before the takeover no fan of Sir Jim but he and his boys has impressed me. (and yeah most of them are younger than me)
At least has a plan that he seems to follow and from what I hear he sends all the right noises.

More likely the board made a due diligence a couple of weeks ago of what’s available and found out that there wasn’t any stand out candidate that was head and shoulder above the other candidates or Ten Hag.

At the end of the season when we got some players back and we started to win a few matches they probably decided to delay any decision and when we won against City I think the case for changing our manager was less important.

Rule 21 in business management. Don’t disrupt a positive momentum and don’t be the guy who crash the party.

Sir Jim has a stab of knowledgeable people around him and none of these guys start their new career forcing a FA cup winning manager to quit without the whole board room is in full consensus behind such a move. Several reasons.

a) the key players and the youngsters seems to like him. (trust)
b) he has one year left on his contract - sack him cost money and atm we’re short of funds. (bad timing)
c) injuries isn’t an excuse but it can be an explanation in certain circumstances. (difficult to judge)
d) two trophy’s in two season (success)

In a board room facts talks.

2 cup wins and 3rd place in his first season vs. 8th place in his second when there’s arguments that injuries played a part.

There’re hundreds of other negative parameters and sometimes it looked plain awful but my guess is that the positives has swung the decision in Ten Hags favor. Otherwise this has been done 6-7 days ago.
_——_———————————
After that we leave the room and let the Ten Hag-out brigade come in - welcome in boys and girls.

 

[antohan]

Either you know what you want to do, or you don't know what you want to do.

It looks like we don't. Same shit, different flavour.

 

[BarstoolProphet]

Is David Moyes handling this review?

 

[romufc]

Is David Moyes handling this review?

They have to go through the review process.

They have to actively decide he is on review.

They have to monitor his review

They have to decide who is on the review

Its the usual United sloth like movement.

 

[Borninthe80ts]

For me I’m not particularly surprised about the length of time an announcement has taken and I’m not sure it indicates incompetence or fear.

Normal internal reviews can take weeks depending on what factors are being investigated or variables considered. I’m sure there are also other moving parts like candidates availability and finances. I’m sure there’s influential voices who are on either side of the fence too.

I’d rather it’s comprehensive than rushed because of a poor season and get it wrong again. Even if it means Ten does go.

 

[tomaldinho1]

They briefed all the usual suspects this time last week that they were beginning a season review.

But most likely they'd already made their decision one way or the other. If that decision was to sack him then obviously they'll want to let things cool down after the cup win. They'll be mindful of the bad press the club got back in 2016 for sacking LVG the week after the cup win.

Why? Sir Jim literally prides himself on not being sentimental and being pure business, he references it in interviews himself. We got minimal bad press from LVG at the time because a) the media hounded LVG for months and b) Mou was widely celebrated, it was only retrospectively people cared. Also it was more for the way it was done, not the timing, with Woodward's masterclass in letting LVG's wife find out before he told him.

I think it's relatively obvious we aren't briefing the media, they are chasing their tails because they clearly don't have an IN at Ineos after years of getting swathes of information for leaks, it seems to have completely dried up now and so we have these vague open ended headlines, none of which has actually said anything.

 

[FrankDrebin]

Maybe they have a specific someone in mind and are looking to make sure he's available before parting ways with Eric?

Doesn't make sense otherwise.

Spoiler

 

[romufc]

For me I’m not particularly surprised about the length of time an announcement has taken and I’m not sure it indicates incompetence or fear.

Normal internal reviews can take weeks depending on what factors are being investigated or variables considered. I’m sure there are also other moving parts like candidates availability and finances. I’m sure there’s influential voices who are on either side of the fence too.

I’d rather it’s comprehensive than rushed because of a poor season and get it wrong again. Even if it means Ten does go.

They have been reviewing his position for months now. There were reports earlier in the year that Cox was in charge of speaking to staff and players in respects to the manager.

 

[glazed]

My best guess is they will announce new manager at same time so it's a logistical PR circus. There's an outside chance they keep him on (I hope so) but I doubt it.

 

[saivet]

Who says they didn't make the decision? Maybe they just don't give a feck about informing the fecking media about it. Which I support, feck the press.

If they are keeping him, publicly backing the manager is surely only a good thing for the fans. You can say feck the press but if United aren't releasing any press statement, that's exactly where we get all of our football news from. If they are working out a new contract for ETH and announce it this week then fair enough but silence seems like an odd approach to take, especially if he is staying.

 

[pocco]

The day to release him from his duties was last Monday, a few days after our FA cup final.

They will not sack him more then a week after the season is over and they’re in no stress to extend his contract. They will probably have a conversation when the new season starts and both parties feel more comfortable with moving forward. It’s can be in July, after Christmas or when next season is over. As long as those people in charge and Ten Hag has trust in each other it can be done whenever they want.

I was before the takeover no fan of Sir Jim but he and his boys has impressed me. (and yeah most of them are younger than me)
At least has a plan that he seems to follow and from what I hear he sends all the right noises.

More likely the board made a due diligence a couple of weeks ago of what’s available and found out that there wasn’t any stand out candidate that was head and shoulder above the other candidates or Ten Hag.

At the end of the season when we got some players back and we started to win a few matches they probably decided to delay any decision and when we won against City I think the case for changing our manager was less important.

Rule 21 in business management. Don’t disrupt a positive momentum and don’t be the guy who crash the party.

Sir Jim has a stab of knowledgeable people around him and none of these guys start their new career forcing a FA cup winning manager to quit without the whole board room is in full consensus behind such a move. Several reasons.

a) the key players and the youngsters seems to like him. (trust)
b) he has one year left on his contract - sack him cost money and atm we’re short of funds. (bad timing)
c) injuries isn’t an excuse but it can be an explanation in certain circumstances. (difficult to judge)
d) two trophy’s in two season (success)

In a board room facts talks.

2 cup wins and 3rd place in his first season vs. 8th place in his second when there’s arguments that injuries played a part.

There’re hundreds of other negative parameters and sometimes it looked plain awful but my guess is that the positives has swung the decision in Ten Hags favor. Otherwise this has been done 6-7 days ago.
_——_———————————
After that we leave the room and let the Ten Hag-out brigade come in - welcome in boys and girls.

They were never going to sack him within days of winning the FA Cup Final. That would have been the worst thing they could do.

Besides, even before the final, Ineos refused to comment on the rumours of his sacking and told some journalists that they wanted to complete their review. They seemingly will not deviate from that and we just have to wait.

I also don't think they are or should be as reactive as you make out in the bolded part. There were about 50+ games to judge him from this season, absolutely nobody would have had an argument if he was sacked at the end of the PL season. One game doesn't change that, as much as you are trying to sweep it all under the rug.

 

[saivet]

For me I’m not particularly surprised about the length of time an announcement has taken and I’m not sure it indicates incompetence or fear.

Normal internal reviews can take weeks depending on what factors are being investigated or variables considered. I’m sure there are also other moving parts like candidates availability and finances. I’m sure there’s influential voices who are on either side of the fence too.

I’d rather it’s comprehensive than rushed because of a poor season and get it wrong again. Even if it means Ten does go.

Wilcox has been at the club since mid-April. Brailsford and Blanc have been around since the start of the year. CL football has been mathematically impossible for a while (early May?), the PL season finished 2 weeks ago and the FA Cup final was a week ago. I don't think there's a good reason that this drags out beyond the end this week. If we want to keep him I think it's better, we communicate that as soon as possibly and if we does get dragged out, I think he will probably need a new contract to go with it, otherwise the time taken looks like they weren't convinced. If he gets a new contract, the silence was partly down to sorting out the details with agents and ETH being on holiday.

 

[saivet]

Just a hunch, but if he is staying, perhaps it's the club sorting out a new contract for ETH? That way the silence doesn't undermine him and they can make a big deal about their faith in the manager.

 

[Leftback99]

Just a hunch, but if he is staying, perhaps it's the club sorting out a new contract for ETH? That way the silence doesn't undermine him and they can make a big deal about their faith in the manager.

That would be stupid considering there is an option of another year.

 

[Red the Bear]

Spoiler

There is no God.

 

[BorisManUtd]

Euros start on 14th June so surely it'll happen between today and then? Wouldn't like it to drag out for too long.

 

[hobbers]

Ineos way of letting us know that they're rubbish nice and early so we can kill all false hope

 

[Borninthe80ts]

They have been reviewing his position for months now. There were reports earlier in the year that Cox was in charge of speaking to staff and players in respects to the manager.

I’m sure they have been talking to potential candidates too. Official reviews can be different and generally conducted by an external source. Either way since it was “announced” officially after the final it’s basically been 2 weeks. To say this means fear or incompetence when we have made positive changes already for me is a false narrative.

 

[quadrant]

I know fans want news yesterday, but I think United are right to take their time on this. This isn't a decision to make over a beer, it needs a proper process behind it, and we can be confident that the structure of this process doesn't exist already, given the haphazard way we've chosen managers before. Add in the complexity of involving both Ashworth and Berrada when both are not officially started, and I think they should take as long as it needs. I respect ETH a lot, but his feelings don't come into this. With Bayern, Barca, Chelsea and Liverpool already settling on new managers, there's less pressure to go for one of the other managers on the market quickly.

I hope we get it sorted by the start of the Euros, that would give a new manager a solid month to get settled in Manchester and at Carrington before pre-season games kick off. That feels like a useful landmark, not least since many managers will be on pundit duty over there for the duration.

 

[doubleohseven]

I’m sure they have been talking to potential candidates too. Official reviews can be different and generally conducted by an external source. Either way since it was “announced” officially after the final it’s basically been 2 weeks. To say this means fear or incompetence when we have made positive changes already for me is a false narrative.

The charge of incompetence is an ongoing process, with a variety of malefactors to contend with. Ashworth will want his mate in but Blanc will probably have watched football at some point. Brailsford is weighing up the evidence and communicating rapidly to Brexit Jim, just not via email.

 

[Von Mistelroum]

I've changed my mind on Ten Hag and now think he should stay.

8th place isn't too bad really, and his head bobbling during every interview can be quite fun to watch.

I'm sure we can cut the shots on our goal down to maybe 20 or so if we buy a new CB and DM.

His excuses could be more interesting next season, and surely he can't just go with injuries again so it'll be fun to see what they are.

He says Antony is unstoppable and we're the most entertaining team. I don't need to use my eyes to accept these truths. In fact, it'll help if I don't.

Also, if we lose him then we lose his inside track to signing the likes of Brian Brobbey!

 

[romufc]

I’m sure they have been talking to potential candidates too. Official reviews can be different and generally conducted by an external source. Either way since it was “announced” officially after the final it’s basically been 2 weeks. To say this means fear or incompetence when we have made positive changes already for me is a false narrative.

We made "positive" changes but that's on paper, we dont know what effect that will have in real time. They have been talking to potential candidates prior to sacking him, as per reports.

To say we have made positive changes based on 0 evidence is also a false narrative.

 

[Borninthe80ts]

Wilcox has been at the club since mid-April. Brailsford and Blanc have been around since the start of the year. CL football has been mathematically impossible for a while (early May?), the PL season finished 2 weeks ago and the FA Cup final was a week ago. I don't think there's a good reason that this drags out beyond the end this week. If we want to keep him I think it's better, we communicate that as soon as possibly and if we does get dragged out, I think he will probably need a new contract to go with it, otherwise the time taken looks like they weren't convinced. If he gets a new contract, the silence was partly down to sorting out the details with agents and ETH being on holiday.

With the points you’ve made you’ve pretty much highlighted my point in the post. It was more assumptions that a lack of information from the club means incompetence or fear when we don’t know what the factors being discussed are. Maybe the club could have given clarity over the factors being considered but it’s also understandable why they haven’t.

We have made positive strides for me in the time since the take over and I’m sure that we shave been reviewing a lot of issues within the club. However I’m sure also they wanted to give Ten until the end of the season to see where we ended up. I’m sure if we didn’t have all the extenuating circumstances the decision would have been easier but context matters.

I too believe we will get a decision by the end of the week and then other factors like transfers and renewals will come soon after that.

 

[doubleohseven]

I know fans want news yesterday, but I think United are right to take their time on this. This isn't a decision to make over a beer, it needs a proper process behind it, and we can be confident that the structure of this process doesn't exist already, given the haphazard way we've chosen managers before. Add in the complexity of involving both Ashworth and Berrada when both are not officially started, and I think they should take as long as it needs. I respect ETH a lot, but his feelings don't come into this. With Bayern, Barca, Chelsea and Liverpool already settling on new managers, there's less pressure to go for one of the other managers on the market quickly.

I hope we get it sorted by the start of the Euros, that would give a new manager a solid month to get settled in Manchester and at Carrington before pre-season games kick off. That feels like a useful landmark, not least since many managers will be on pundit duty over there for the duration.

The problem is injuries.

Sure, other teams have them and EtH is a big tactical blunderbus but if he's managing another team well next season and we are fighting for sixth, even the most hardened crop of 'EtH Out' acolytes will ponder why we bothered to change.

'Give him time' won't work as the packed predecessor won well and early. CL qualification, too. 'Ah, but eighth' can and will become rationalised through said injuries. Not without merit, either.

Ineos will primarily manage their own reputation before managing us. It's more about them than us.

 

[dwd]

If I had to guess, I think we will hear on Friday if he is sacked.
If he isnt we wont hear anything from the club direct. Might be some noise from the usual jounos. But there wont be an announcement backing the manager because his situation could change at any time.

Thought you said the decision had already been made?

 

[Vidooq]

If there was one thing that embodies the Glazers, it is exactly this. Standing still. I do not understand what kind of review is needed, honestly. You had ample time to make a decision on the coach, so this review seems like buying themselves time to make it official that he is sacked.

This limbo we are in now with the coach also affects us in extending players' contracts, buying players, and selling players. Just take a look at Real Madrid, who won the Champions League less than 48 hours ago. Since then, they have already:

• Signed Mbappe
• Extended Luka Modric contract
• Extended Lucas Vasquez contract

I know it's the start of June, and there is plenty of time. Barrada is starting in 45 days, and Ashforth is still in limbo. However, I have PTSD of this standing still from the Glazers, and I want things done yesterday for a change. Chelsea sacked their coach, hired a new one, and signed Aderabiyo on a free. The last thing I want for us is for the World to know we desperately need players come to the start of the season, and everybody starts asking us for 80-100 million for our targets.

So pardon my panic, but I want things done faster for a change.