Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe says it was a mistake not to sack Erik ten Hag in the summer.
The Dutch head coach was handed an extended contract at Old Trafford after beating Man City in the FA Cup final but was then axed nine games into this campaign.
Speaking with Sky Sports’ Gary Neville, Ratcliffe says his newly-assembled leadership team of chief executive Omar Berrada, INEOS director of sport Sir Dave Brailsford and the club’s technical director Jason Wilcox failed to come to the right conclusion.
Man Utd are now 14th in the Premier League table, 36 points behind Liverpool – who are set to match United’s record of 20 English league titles – with Ruben Amorim as head coach.
“It was too early for us to make a big decision in reality,” said Ratcliffe when explaining their decision-making in the summer.
“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.
“Obviously the structure around [current head coach Ruben 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.
“But it was quite difficult to see what environment Erik was operating in. Was it, in other words, 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.”
Asked by Neville if he regrets that now, Ratcliffe said: “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.”
Watch the full interview available on the Overlap YouTube Channel.
