by The future of the manager
Erik ten Hag’s team are in trouble at the wrong moment: as Sir Jim Ratcliffe heads Manchester United’s sporting department before making major job changes that will directly affect the manager. Richard Arnold left although he officially stayed until the end of the year and Jean-Claude Blanc, Chief Executive Officer of Ineos Sport Ratcliffe, may come, as the Ten Hag man reports to him. The Ten Hag line manager may also change, with Ratcliffe considering whether a new director of football is needed, a job held by John Murtough. Ten Hag’s first clue to his status in Ratcliffe’s new empire may be his take on a key factor in his ability to successfully coach and manage the side: United’s transfer policy. This brings us to Murtough…
Will Murtough survive?
The director of football has no plans to leave but it may be under Ratcliffe that he will remain in situ. Some inside the club believe Murtough will be moved aside or Arnold will be followed out the door. Ratcliffe may have expressed his assessment of him when, during the club’s tour in March, he questioned the signing of 30-year-old Casemiro on a four-year deal worth around £350,000-a-week. Murtough, whose football department has vetoed transfers, and Ten Hag, who has the same, were responsible for the Brazilian’s signing. Word is that Murtough, who was present when Ratcliffe raised this, was hardly impressed. Especially as Nice, the French club owned by Ratcliffe recruited Aaron Ramsey, Kasper Schmeichel and Ross Barkley as part of the nine signings in the same summer Casemiro joined United. Schmeichel was 35 and signed a three-year deal in a £1m move from Leicester; Ramsey, then 31 years old, and Barkley, then 28, were released and given one-year deals. All three players left Nice this summer. Newcastle sporting director Dan Ashworth and Paul Mitchell, Monaco sporting director until March, are among those mentioned in reports as possible replacements for Murtough.
Related: Sir Jim Ratcliffe completes deal to buy minority stake in Manchester United
Can no CEO make United an elite elite club again?
Blanc, who has an MBA from Harvard, has been called the “Lionel Messi of business” by Nice chief executive Fabrice Bocquet. At the age of 60, Blanc was CEO and president of Juventus, CEO of Paris Saint-Germain and Tennis France, and executive overseeing the Tour de France. But when he or whoever succeeds Arnold in the place, it will quickly dawn that United are a one-off hydra-headed beast of a club that is treacherously difficult to control. And there’s this too: across town, Manchester City have accumulated six championships since United’s last in 2013 and have a commercial operation that dwarfs Ratcliffe’s new concerns by many years.
Old Trafford (and the training ground)
To find a suitable short film for that lurching ship United, stop the search on the roof of their stadium where (many) rainy days in Manchester are pouring rain. Old Trafford is a great venue but as it continues to wear down the story of disunity has become a central story in its recent history. As Premier League titles have become scarce (nil in a decade) the neglect of a ground that dates back to 1910 is emblematic of the Glazers’ near-absent ownership. Ratcliffe will invest $300m (£237m) in infrastructure but this is a pittance when considering the multi-billion pound refurbishment or new venue. There is also Carrington’s limited base: as on Sir Matt Busby Way, the training ground has a large footprint but the set-up and facilities are aging – badly.
Communication
The Glazers treat a microphone or TV camera like United fans do for Liverpool or Manchester City: as a fierce enemy. No member of the family has given a press conference or interview during his 18-year tenure. Ratcliffe has arrived on a ticket, in part, to be the local boy to round it out (Failsworth, where he was born, is near Newton Heath, the birthplace of United) so if he is as quiet as the Americans it will be this: a) poor PR; and b) just poor. Football fans can be classed as the most loyal citizens of any society but even the faith of United enthusiasts has been stretched by the frosty relationship created by the Glazers’ stance on communication. Ratcliffe therefore decided to remedy this by opening a regular line and keeping his supporters.
Ensuring a working relationship with the Glazers
Paying an exorbitant £1.3bn for his 25% gives Ratcliffe a large element of control but the Glazers are still majority owners. The 71-year-old oversees football policy but these are not in a vacuum as the commercial side interferes with this and vice versa. Ratcliffe accepts that Manchester United have an impressive revenue-driven model that makes the club look like a cash machine but he does not appreciate how the money generated is invested – mainly in the squad. What happens then, for example, if Ten Hag want a new midfield ace, Ratcliffe agrees but the Glazers cite a downturn in income and therefore seek to block the signing?
