Ten Hag is currently no more than an interim manager

Sir Jim Ratcliffe will want to reshape the club in his image and managers in place after takeovers are always vulnerable

Erik ten Hag is on trial as Manchester United manager since the Ineos ‘takeover’. He is effectively an interim coach until the end of the season.
Unless there is a significant upturn in results and performances, he will have to go.
This is a natural consequence of significant boardroom upheaval. Wherever there is new investment at an elite football club, an  review of every department follows – especially those that are malfunctioning.
Ten Hag has never lost the support of United’s match-day fans, nor those who have expressed the same sympathy as they did for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer because of the working environment under the Glazer family.
That backing is never unconditional, though. It also has a sense of realism attached.
If you are Sir Jim Ratcliffe and vowing to pump billions of pounds into the club, one of the first priorities is establishing whether you have a coach who represents the dynamism you want associated with your business.
Ratcliffe will attend his first United game as a major shareholder this weekend asking himself this question: can this manager be a symbol of the club I want to build?
My long-held belief is that a football team is an extension of a manager’s personality. Ten Hag’s lack of charisma in press conferences would not be an issue if his side played with character, but rather than being exciting and adventurous, United have been predictable and, at their worst, dull.
They have scored just 22 league goals so far, one fewer than Luton Town. Only Burnley and Sheffield United have a worse goal record.
That makes Tottenham Hotspur particularly intriguing opponents for Ratcliffe’s first Old Trafford appearance as a boardroom influence. Ange Postecoglou’s impact has become a stick with which to beat Ten Hag because of the contrast on and off the pitch, the Spurs boss talking a great game in the media while his team play a more entertaining style than his immediate predecessors.
If Spurs win this weekend, the well-emphasised differences between Postecoglou and Ten Hag will continue to be unfavourable to the United manager.
Ratcliffe will want supporters on the edge of their seats when the manager speaks and the team play.
For Ten Hag to survive and thrive, there will also need to be an immediate rapport with Ratcliffe and Sir Dave Brailsford, who will form the three-man football ‘committee’ with Joel Glazer. There are red flags for Ten Hag immediately because, until now, the Glazers have been a shield for underperforming United coaches.
Despite criticism of how the Glazer family have run the business – much of it justified – I have never bought the idea that it was impossible to succeed at Old Trafford under them. Until now, Ten Hag has been afforded the same power as Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp, especially with regards to transfers. Guardiola and Klopp earned that through their success. Ten Hag has it because no one has been around with the kudos and authority to say no.
United’s recent big-money signings are on him. He had his chance to get it right in three transfer windows and used those resources poorly, taking the team backwards this season despite huge investment. If there is no money left in this window, which may be his last, it is his own fault.
As United plan ahead for next season, recruitment responsibilities will no longer be primarily his. That will create a new dynamic. On a point of principle, it is difficult for any coach to adjust to a situation where the board is making it known they will be more cautious about pursuing deals without forensic due diligence, or might even refuse outright before proposing alternative targets who they believe have been more thoroughly scouted than those signed before.
Well-run clubs will establish that the coach is comfortable with this arrangement during the appointment process. Ten Hag is now in a situation where he will have no choice but to adapt to the changes that are afoot, especially when United finally appoint a director of football.
You will have to think long and hard for an example of a major investor who took over a football team who stopped competing for the biggest honours and, as part of their restructure, stuck with the coach they inherited. A Manchester United manager who finished bottom of the Champions League group and was out of the title race by the end of October is obviously vulnerable.
Of course, Ten Hag’s staunchest defenders will suggest there are mitigating factors in his struggles this season, especially a long injury list. Last year’s top-four finish and Carabao Cup win are credit in the bank. That was a notable first step in Ten Hag’s debut season in the Premier League, and the goodwill he accumulated from those achievements counts in his favour – the biggest reason why he is still in post.
One of the more extraordinary facts about Ten Hag is that he will surpass Sir Alex Ferguson’s win percentage should his side beat Tottenham Hotspur this weekend.
A more damning statistic is that United have lost 14 of their 29 fixtures this season.
Looking back to my own experience at a club undergoing a massive executive overhaul, Roy Hodgson’s brief reign at Liverpool is regarded as the worst since Bill Shankly was appointed in 1959. Hodgson lost nine in 31 games before he was sacked, not coincidentally three months after Fenway Sports Group bought the club and wanted a different profile of coach on the touchline.
No one will convince me that Ratcliffe has bought into United thinking Ten Hag has already proven himself the right man for the job longer-term. He is far from untouchable.
I can only reiterate what I believe about clubs of United’s, Arsenal’s and Liverpool’s stature: they are never as far away from getting back to the top as it seems.
With their history, resources and clout, it only ever needs the right manager at the right time and two or three top-class players to change everything. They pull everyone upwards.
As the past 10 years at Old Trafford demonstrate, finding those transformative personalities is easier said than done.
But by applying that straightforward formula, Ratcliffe will not need as long as some predict to get United back where they are accustomed to being. My suspicion is that when it happens, it will be a revolution traced back to Ineos’s first permanent managerial appointment.
Ten Hag faces the fight of his career to ensure the headhunting for a new coach is not well advanced by March and April.