Gary Neville doesn’t think the Manchester United board will sack Erik ten Hag for six key reasons – despite the club making their worst start to a season for 61 years.
The Red Devils crashed out of the Carabao Cup with a 3-0 defeat against Newcastle on Wednesday – three days after being battered by rivals Manchester City in the Premier League. Pressure is mounting on Ten Hag, with United now losing eight of their opening 15 matches of a campaign for the first time since 1962/63.
However, ex-United defender Neville has outlined six reasons why United will not part company with Ten Hag, who joined the club from Ajax last summer. Speaking to Webby & O’Neill before the defeat at home to Newcastle, Neville started by saying the board believe in Ten Hag to turn things around.
The Dutchman guided United to third in the Premier League and helped them win the Carabao Cup in his first season in charge. The Red Devils also reached the FA Cup final before narrowly losing to City. Neville believes this is another reason why Ten Hag won’t be axed.
Neville’s third explanation is that the Glazers will have to pay off Ten Hag’s coaching staff, which will cost them around £15million. Ten Hag is under contract at Old Trafford until 2025 and is currently earning £9m per year. If he was axed now, United would have to pay him his guaranteed salary, as well as money owed to his backroom team.
Meanwhile, Neville admitted United would have to spend money on players wanted by the new manager, with Ten Hag already spending over £300m since his arrival 18 months ago. Neville also pointed out the Ralf Rangnick experiment that went badly, before defending Ten Hag with the amount of injuries he’s had.
“I don’t think they will sack him at all,” Neville explained. “Partly because he shouldn’t be sacked, partly because they believe in him and partly because he did a good job last season.
“It won’t be on the table for discussion. If a new manager comes in, they have to pay off Ten Hag’s coaching staff, and go and spend a load more money on a new manager’s players. They have already had the Ralf Rangnick experiment of five months interim. He isn’t going anywhere and he shouldn’t be going anywhere.
“Of course, he will come under pressure if results continue as they are but that won’t come from the ownership this season. We keep changing managers but they can’t all be bad managers when they come to Manchester United. They have been, and are good managers with really good reputations but haven’t been able to succeed.
“I don’t think they will fire the bullet this season. I think he will be given time but this will be deemed as a bad period because some of the performances have been awful. When he has a fully fit squad and his players back, then we can judge him. He has a lot of injuries and that is impacting the style of play. He can’t play out from the back, he hasn’t been able to play through midfield without Casemiro. It is a little bit all at sea.”