Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Manchester United in-tray: Erik ten Hag conundrum and fixing shoddy recruitment
Sir Jim Ratcliffe will seek to drive a number of changes at Manchester United after being given control of football operations in the wake of purchasing a 25 per cent stake in the club from the Glazer family.
Here Telegraph Sport delves into some of the early challenges facing the Oldham-born Ineos billionaire and his team at Old Trafford.
Fixing the perennial recruitment problem
Sir David Brailsford, the man behind British Cycling’s extraordinary success at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics and Ineos’ director of sport, has been charged with an audit of United’s football operations amid an anticipated overhaul of the recruitment department. Ratcliffe and his closest advisers believe an incoherent, second rate, scattergun transfer policy over the decade since Sir Alex Ferguson retired has been a significant factor – if not the only problem – behind the team’s persistent struggles.
They have been looking at a number of sporting directors, including the likes of Paul Mitchell, formerly of Spurs and Monaco, and Crystal Palace’s Dougie Freedman, and could yet seek to bring in more than one recruitment expert as they bid to rectify years of alarming wastage and muddled thinking.
John Murtough, United’s current football director, expects to be part of any transition process under Ineos but whether he has his responsibilities downgraded and redefined or he is moved on remains to be seen. Erik ten Hag has already said publicly that he expects to still have his say on United’s transfer policy given the veto on signings he has written into his contract. But the club’s decision to allow the manager such sway over transfers – and a largely insular approach of signing players with an Eredivisie background and/or pre-existing relationship with the Dutchman – looks increasingly misguided and a repeat in part of some of the failings during Louis van Gaal’s reign. How much of an impact Ineos can make in the January transfer window may be influenced by the speed with which the Premier League ratifies the deal as the delays over recent weeks have already seen vital time lost.
Appointing a new CEO
Richard Arnold left last month ahead of Ineos’ impending arrival leaving United in need of a new chief executive. Patrick Stewart, the club’s legal counsel, is filling the role on an interim basis with Arnold offering transitional support until the end of the month but it is imperative United get the right man for the job. Jean-Claude Blanc, the former Juventus chief executive who currently holds the same role with Ineos Sport is firmly in the running and has the experience of running a big club and delivering a new stadium. Blanc played a key part in the construction of the Italian club’s 40,000 capacity Allianz Stadium, which opened in 2011. The Glazers are expected to have a say in the identity of the new man but Ratcliffe will hope to have an ally installed in the role.
Sorting out the Sancho stand-off
Ratcliffe could put himself on an early collision course with Ten Hag if he tries to force the United manager to take back Sancho, who has been in exile for over three months since effectively accusing the Dutchman on social media of lying about the reasons for his absence against Arsenal on Sept 3. United’s new minority shareholder must establish if there is any realistic chance of a rapprochement but the club have so far sided with Ten Hag’s stance that Sancho must show genuine remorse and make a full public and private apology to be reinstated.
At present, a move away from Old Trafford in the January transfer window still appears in the best interests of all parties but the arrangement between Ratcliffe and the Glazers could also face an early test if offers come in for the England winger. What if Ratcliffe agrees a deal to offload Sancho that the Americans – who are still in majority control – do not consider financially viable? United fans will hope the lines of communication and agreements between the parties are robust enough that such scenarios do not materialise. Anything less would be farcical.
Juventus and Borussia Dortmund are among the clubs who are watching Sancho’s situation closely. Saudi Arabia could also renew their interest after a late, failed approach in the summer window by Al Ettifaq, who are managed by former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard, although it is thought Sancho would prefer to stay in Europe at this stage of his career.
Getting rid of the deadwood
Sancho is not the only player facing an uncertain future in January, when Ineos could look to put down an early marker of their intentions going forward. Anthony Martial is somehow approaching his ninth year as a United player and cannot be moved on quickly enough. There is a break clause in Sergio Reguilón’s loan agreement and a chance the left-back could return to Spurs. Beyond that, Ineos will have a decision to make on centre-back Raphaël Varane, who was sidelined by Ten Hag until the recent injury crisis and is thought to be a player of interest to clubs in Saudi Arabia.
Brailsford’s successes in cycling were built around a fierce team ethic, meticulous planning and his “marginal gains” philosophy – the theory that even a one per cent improvement in a host of tiny areas can have a huge cumulative benefit. “It only takes one bad apple in the group and it can ruin the whole dynamic,” he once said. “Ideally you don’t want people to be robots, and you want mavericks to be their authentic self, but if they are destructive, self-centred or too damaging in a team environment, get them out.”
United have talked for years about rooting out the miscreants, passengers and substandard players in their squad but have seldom ever backed up that rhetoric with a ruthless cull, instead stockpiling players well beyond their sell-by date and paying the price, in more ways than one. Will that finally change?
Quizzing Ten Hag
After an encouraging debut campaign, when Ten Hag ended United’s six-year wait for a trophy, made some big decisions, not least around Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Maguire, and restored some order and discipline after inheriting a toxic mess, the wheels have started to come off this season. Injuries have not helped but so many of Ten Hag’s signings have underperformed and there are serious concerns that the Dutchman – who was recruited in part for his coaching abilities – has improved so few players, there is no discernible playing identity, the team still lacks work ethic and discipline and their game management is so naive.
All those issues have been reflected in a series of poor results and dismal performances. When Ineos attended Old Trafford and Carrington for a series of presentations back in March the word was very much that there was admiration for Ten Hag but recent months have not reflected well on the manager and Ratcliffe’s arrival will likely intensify the spotlight.
Solving injury epidemic
“Ineos will look at everything – no stone will be left unturned,” said one source, and that will include United’s dire injury record this season. Murtough said in October that the club had begun an internal probe to determine why so many players have suffered issues and to establish whether any patterns exist that warrant changes to their approach to improve injury prevention in the future.
An unsparing schedule and the quick turnaround from last season have been obvious factors – United are not the only Premier League club to encounter a glut of injury problems. But there have been concerns that Ten Hag’s high-intensity training sessions between matches has not helped matters at times. Pep Guardiola, the Manchester City manager, spoke recently about how little the Premier League and European champions train relatively to avoid his squad being decimated by injury, with an emphasis on recovery. “If we train, we don’t have players for the next game,” he said.
Navigating Uefa’s multi-club ownership rules
Uefa regulations bar an individual from having control at more than one club competing in Europe. So Ratcliffe must find a way of convincing European football’s governing body that he does not have “decisive influence” in the decision-making at both United or Nice, the French club he owns, or potentially risk one of them being banned from Europe.
Tony Bloom, the Brighton owner, faced a similar situation in the summer when he was forced to reduce his ownership share in Union Saint-Gilloise so the Belgian club and their Premier League counterparts could both compete in the Europa League this season.
The Glazers are understood to have recognised the potential conflict and it is hard to believe Ratcliffe – who also owns Swiss Super League side Lausanne-Sport – does not have a plan in place to address any issues down the line in order to satisfy Uefa requirements.
Nice are currently second in Ligue 1, five points behind leaders Paris Saint-Germain, and currently on course to qualify for the Champions League. Lausanne are 10th in the Swiss top flight.
Laying out a plan for Old Trafford
On top of the purchase price, an additional £245m is being provided by Ratcliffe in staggered investment for infrastructure requirements. With the cost of redeveloping and expanding Old Trafford – or building an entirely new stadium on surrounding land – estimated at anything between £800m and £2bn, a quarter of a billion will barely scrape the surface when it comes to the needs of a ground that has been neglected for far too long by the Glazers.
The Old Trafford project has effectively been on hold for the past year while United’s “strategic review” dragged on but fans – quite rightly – will want to know what the plan is for the stadium going forward now Ratcliffe is on board. It is almost 18 months since a survey was sent out asking supporters for their views as part of a consultation process and there is not any more time to waste.
