A Manchester United chief has revealed the club’s stance on Erik ten Hag’s future as pressure continues to mount on the Dutchman following an underwhelming start to the 2024/25 campaign.
The Red Devils beat Fulham by a goal to nil in their opening Premier League encounter of the campaign, but then suffered two consecutive defeats, losing 2-1 to Brighton & Hove Albion and most recently being on the receiving end of a 3-0 thumping by bitter rivals Liverpool.
This comes after United finished last season in eighth place on the EPL table, resulting in much speculation around Ten Hag’s future at Old Trafford, despite beating Manchester City to win the FA Cup – the club’s second trophy in two years.
New minority owners Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his INEOS consortium made the decision, during the off-season, to keep the former Ajax Amsterdam boss in the role and extended his contract by another year to keep him at the club until 2026.
The Manchester outfit then bolstered the squad with the additions of Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui, Joshua Zirkzee and Manuel Ugarte.
Now, following the loss to the Merseysiders on Sunday, chief executive officer Omar Berrada has insisted that the decision made at the end of last season will not change on the back of two disappointing results.
“Do we still believe in Erik? Absolutely,” the United executive said, per the Daily Mail.
“We think Erik is the right coach for us and we’re fully backing him. We’re going to continue working very closely to help him get the best results out of the team.”
The former Manchester City chief also expressed a sense of optimism regarding the club’s future.
“I’m very excited and very optimistic at what we have in front of us,” Berrada continued.
“We’re starting to put the right pieces in place and I’m absolutely convinced we’re going to be successful.”
When asked about how long it would take to get the Red Devils to a level similar to close rivals City, Berrada emphasised that it would take time.
“Anybody who has worked in football for a long time could tell you that it’s almost impossible to put a timescale to answer that question,” he added.
“What I can say is it has been demonstrated, when you look at the teams who have been successful consistently for many years, it’s because they have the right coach, they have signed the right players and they have the right structure.
“You need to take good decisions consistently for many years to get into a position where you are a financially sustainable club that is competing to win every single competition, which is where we want to be.”
