Erik ten Hag has “earned the right” to stay in Man United job, says Gary Neville
Gary Neville believes Erik ten Hag has made a strong case for himself by virtue of how Man United performed last Saturday to beat Man City and lift the FA Cup trophy.
The INEOS sporting ownership of Man United are currently in the process of evaluating the 23/24 season in order to decide whether Ten Hag will be allowed to keep his job going forward. Their verdict is expected to be made public in the next few days.
On the matter, Neville had this to say:
“I couldn’t face going to Wembley on Saturday. That’s how little confidence I had in United’s ability to stop City doing the double again!
“And yet it turned out to be a beautiful day. And a great performance after a horrible season that might just change everything for Erik ten Hag…
“There’s no doubt Ten Hag’s FA Cup win has put Manchester United in an awkward position. This has been an unacceptably poor Premier League season for the club.
“Of course, Ten Hag will argue that he hasn’t had anything like a consistent enough squad to pick from, especially his back four. But even so, the lack of control in many games has been alarming.
“Of course, Ten Hag will argue that he hasn’t had anything like a consistent enough squad to pick from, especially his back four. But even so, the lack of control in many games has been alarming.
“I think he’s earned the right to go on. It’s not exactly a ringing endorsement but the first consideration when removing a manager is you have the right and better replacement.
“Simply there is no outstanding candidate to replace him that would make an immediate and massive upgrade.
“If you have the opportunity to appoint someone like Jurgen Klopp, as Liverpool did in 2015, or Pep Guardiola, as City did in 2016, then it makes sense to change.
“But there’s no-one out here who will suddenly take this United squad on to another level. They might do somewhat better but even with Guardiola in charge, this United team wouldn’t win the Premier League.”
Neville on whether Ten Hag should stay, shared via his latest newsletter entry of The Overlap. Quotes sourced from Metro.
Neville’s not entirely wrong
Narratives are always driven by results and that will continue to be the case, as can be seen with Ten Hag and his FA Cup win, which has significantly shifted the odds in his favour.
Similarly, the narrative was against him earlier because the results were not there, and neither were the performances. Even with the injuries, United’s apparent lack of belief on the pitch further soured the onlookers’ mood, but at the end of the day, results were what drove the verdicts.
Now that he has delivered two trophies in two seasons, Ten Hag has most fans and pundits on his side for the moment, but there’s more than that at play here.
Like Neville says, United need to have a proper replacement plan in mind if they’re going to give the Dutchman the boot.
Which they don’t have, as we can perceive from the outside. Any “long-term” incoming will require the presence of a proper footballing structure in place; United have not yet landed their director of football of choice, and that situation is only getting murkier.
More Manchester United News-
- Opinion: Manchester United should uphold their standards; fans don’t want an FA Cup parade
- Manchester United lose Erik ten Hag replacement option as 38-year-old PL manager set to sign new contract
- 20-year-old forward with 18 goals this season ‘highly-rated’ by PL rivals amid Man United interest
So, if any managerial replacement is going to be a short-term fix anyway, why not just stick with the one who has delivered a trophy and see what he can do with a fully-fit squad after all?
