Erik ten Hag’s Ming the Merciless act has given United only flashes of glory
And so the real business begins. The four months since Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos bought a little over a quarter of Manchester United have been the phoney war. No transfers could be done, so little could be changed on the pitch. The task of Ratcliffe and his advisers was to watch and learn and rejig the executive tier so that when the window opens they are ready to act.
That rejig has been more dramatic than many anticipated. The chief executive, Richard Arnold, and the football director, John Murtough, are just the highest profile departures. Omar Berrada will come in as chief executive from Manchester City when his notice period expires on 13 July while Murtough has effectively been replaced by Jason Wilcox, the new technical director, and Dan Ashworth, who will come in once the terms of his severance from Newcastle have been agreed.
Other changes were announced on Tuesday in what feels like a general process of Ineos-ification, suggesting Ratcliffe may have a far bigger hand in the business side of United’s operations than had been anticipated.
The biggest decision for the new regime is over Erik ten Hag. Although he is widely regarded as a dead man walking, the suggestion this week was that Ineos feel he has been let down by the broader management.
Ten Hag might also be about to pull off one of the most absurd FA Cup triumphs in history. He is not wrong when he talks about United being one of the most entertaining sides in the country, but even those who buy into the fallacy that football is a branch of showbusiness tend not to advocate throwing away comfortable leads against the likes of Newport and Coventry before winning through.
The 4-3 quarter-final victory over Liverpool stands out even in a season when United
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