Sir Jim Ratcliffe acknowledges he and his management got it wrong when they decided to extend Erik ten Hag’s stay at Manchester United.
The British billionaire is a life-long Man Utd supporter who acquired a minority stake at the club. As part of his agreement with the Glazers, Ratcliffe and his group, INEOS, have also taken over the club’s day-to-day operations.
The 72-year-old certainly wasn’t impressed in the finances, finding a club deep in the red. This prompted a series of unpopular measures which saw almost 250 employees lose their jobs, while another 200 could follow suit in the next round of redundancies.
But while Ratcliffe believes these decisions are a necessary evil in an attempt to balance the books, he admits that keeping Ten Hag wasn’t the right call.
The Dutchman was already under heavy pressure following a disappointing second season at the club, but then managed to earn himself a new contract after pipping Man City in the FA Cup final. However, he ended up getting sacked a few months later following a poor start to the season.
“It was too early for us to make a big decision in reality,” said Ratcliffe in his interview with Gary Neville on Sky Sports.
“We hadn’t been together as a team for very long. It was just a matter of weeks and it’s quite a big decision, isn’t it? And also, it’s quite difficult. It was quite difficult to extract in that season when we arrived, Erik’s performance from the structure around him.
“But it was quite difficult to see what environment Erik was operating in. Was the erratic performance a function of Erik, or was it a function of the organisation? And we couldn’t really get to the bottom of answering that question with certainty, I suppose, so we gave Erik the benefit of the doubt.
“Yeah, it was the wrong decision. We made the wrong decision. It was an error. So yeah, I suppose in that sense I regret it. I think there was some extenuating or mitigating circumstances in having made that decision, but at the end of the day it was the wrong decision, so hands up, me of course on that one.”
Sir Jim Ratcliffe admits Erik ten Hag regret
Ratcliffe also berated four ‘not good enough’ players Man Utd bought during Ten Hag’s reign. But on the other hand, he insists the internal situation has been significantly healthier with Ruben Amorim in charge.
“Obviously the structure around [Amorim] now is completely different. There’s a really strong relationship and a really strong support culture for Ruben. Jason and Ruben talk to each other two or three times a day, Omar speaks to Ruben every day, every time I go to the match I speak to Ruben. I think Ruben has done an excellent job,” said Ratcliffe. I really like him. I think in the circumstances.
“I mean he arrived mid-season, he didn’t have time to train his players in the way in which he wants to play, he inherited a squad which he’s had no influence on, and the squad isn’t necessarily designed for the way in which he plays football, and English isn’t his natural language, and he’s never played in the Premier League before, and he’s managing the biggest club in the world, and it’s a tough place, and he’s a young guy.
“If you take all of that into consideration, I think he’s done a remarkably good job.”
