Sir Jim Ratcliffe has made his feelings clear about Erik ten Hag’s time at Manchester United
In December 2023, Ratcliffe took a 25% share in Manchester United and took charge of the club’s football operations. Since then, the team has not performed well. Despite a notable FA Cup win against Manchester City last season, they ended up in eighth place in the Premier League, their worst finish since the league’s inception in 1992.
Despite this, Ratcliffe and his team, after evaluating various potential replacements, chose to retain the current manager, Ten Hag. He has now publicly addressed his experiences with the Dutch manager and his tenure at the club.
In an interview with The Times, Ratcliffe remarked, “Erik is a good person and has been putting in a lot of effort, but perhaps too much. He was trying to manage the squad while also addressing other issues, like fixing leaks in the roof.”
However, the INEOS chairman recognized that managing Manchester United became an exceptionally challenging task following the departures of Sir Alex Ferguson and managing director David Gill in 2013.
“Up until then, those two had overseen the sports operations of the club, while the Glazer family effectively handled the commercial side. Then, suddenly, there was a significant void,” Ratcliffe noted.
“Manchester United boasts the largest fanbase of any football club globally, and likely the largest of any sports team worldwide. It’s estimated that around 10 to 12 percent of the planet either supports or sympathizes with Manchester United, nearing a billion people. It’s a massive enterprise.”
In the interview, Ratcliffe delivered a harsh critique of United’s performance since Ferguson and his staff left, stating that it has fallen short of expectations.
“The results are clear. Over the past ten or eleven years, Manchester United should have been competing for the Premier League and Champions League titles annually, but they haven’t.
“It’s a significant responsibility to restore the club to its rightful place. It should at least be performing within the top eight in Europe. If we can’t achieve that, then we won’t consider ourselves successful.”
