Sir Jim Ratcliffe arrives at Villa Park ahead of must-win game for Ten Hag and crunch meeting with Man Utd co-owners
SIR JIM RATCLIFFE has arrived at Villa Park ahead of Manchester United’s clash with Aston Villa.
His attendance comes amid mounting pressure regarding the future of United boss Erik ten Hag, who could be managing his final game as manager today.
Ten Hag was handed a contract extension in July before being backed with a new set of coaches and recruitment that included former players.
However, with results currently failing to justify that decision, Ten Hag’s position may be in some peril without immediate improvement.
The Red Devils have won just three of their opening nine games in all competitions, with two of those coming in the Premier League to leave them down in 14th place before the match.
A win today will see United go level on 10 points with Tottenham and Brentford, while defeat will leave them just four points above the relegation zone and 11 points behind league leaders Liverpool.
Ratcliffe – who owns 27.7 per cent of Man Utd after paying £1.3billion – will be attending a meeting with club chiefs, including co-chairman Joel Glazer, in London on Tuesday.
It is not currently clear whether the future of the manager is on the agenda for that meeting.
However, it could well be depending on the result of today’s clash.
The 71-year-old Ineos chief was driven to the entrance of Villa Park in a black Mercedes – a company Ineos have a one-third share in.
BEST FREE BET SIGN UP OFFERS FOR UK BOOKMAKERS
The executive committee that will be attending the meeting will be comprised of decision makers including; Omar Berrarda, Dan Ashworth, Jason Wilcox and Ineos chief of sport Sir Dave Brailsford.
Ratcliffe failed to publicly back Ten Hag earlier this week, and said the decision on his future was “not my call”, and rather that of the management team at the club including Ashworth and Berrada.
Managers linked with replacing Ten Hag – who will reportedly cost £17.5million to sack – include Gareth Southgate, Thomas Tuchel and Inter Milan manager Simone Inzaghi.
Assistant manager Ruud van Nistelrooy has also been linked with the job on an interim basis.
However, it’s understood he has reservations about taking the job after his own experience of feeling betrayed at PSV Eindhoven.
Man Utd face Brentford in the league next, regardless of who is in the managerial hot seat at Old Trafford.
Why NOBODY is the right man to replace Erik ten Hag at Man Utd
SunSport's DAVE KIDD says Erik ten Hag's time at Man Utd is up… and explains what's wrong with all the potential candidates to replace him.
THIS is a mid-table squad at an underachieving club, with a lot of unwanted players on big money.
And Ratcliffe is an instinctive cost-cutter who may not pay top dollar to the next manager.
If this club wasn’t called ‘Manchester United’, it wouldn’t be an especially desirable job.
The good news for United is that their new sporting director, Dan Ashworth, is a very decent judge of a manager.
He has been instrumental in three previous managerial appointments — Gareth Southgate for England, Graham Potter for Brighton and Eddie Howe for Newcastle.
None were wildly popular at the time, all were conspicuous successes.
Interestingly, Ashworth’s No 1 choice for the Newcastle job was Unai Emery, who turned him down to stay at Villarreal but has since proved that judgment right by excelling at Aston Villa.
Emery may well deliver the coup de grace to Ten Hag on Sunday — especially with Bruno Fernandes suspended and Kobbie Mainoo an injury doubt.
And the Spaniard would be an excellent fit for United — yet there is next to no chance that he would abandon Villa’s Champions League campaign to take the Old Trafford job, not least because he isn’t a stark raving madman.
Howe would be another good candidate to succeed Ten Hag but, although he has become frustrated on Tyneside, the Saudis would surely not allow Ratcliffe to poach Howe, as they reluctantly did with Ashworth.
Potter is available but his Chelsea experience and lack of charisma would make him a tough sell.
Which brings us to Southgate, who remains close with Ashworth and is an excellent man-manager who was seriously considered by United last spring.
Yet, despite having led England to two of their three major finals, Southgate’s reputation for over-caution was only enhanced during the Euros.
Mauricio Pochettino, passed over twice by United, is out of the equation having taken the United States job.
Thomas Tuchel would be a popular and gettable option but, despite being a fine coach and a very engaging man, he is considered something of a loose cannon.
Likewise, Roberto De Zerbi, now at Marseille after his brief Brighton stint sparkled then fizzled out.
Kieran McKenna — a gifted former United coach who has won back-to-back promotions with Ipswich Town — is an intriguing candidate but the imminent vacancy may come a year or so too soon.
Marco Silva, the extremely under-rated Fulham boss, has been on United’s radar and should not be discounted.
Sporting Lisbon’s Ruben Amorim, last season’s ‘next big thing’, was passed over by West Ham as well as Liverpool this summer and is not an easy man to pin down.
Zinedine Zidane, who has taken over from Alan Curbishley as a 20-1 shot for every Premier League job, is a ‘figurehead’ manager and not an Ashworth type.
Ruud van Nistelrooy, the former United goal machine who joined Ten Hag’s coaching team in the summer is the bookies’ favourite. Simply because he’s in the building and he’s Dutch.
So, yes, getting rid of Ten Hag is the easy part.