Erik ten Hag has been publicly backed by two of Manchester United's most senior officials, who were hired by Ineos this summer, but questions are once again swirling over the manager's future at Old Trafford.
United confirmed in June that they would keep Ten Hag in charge after considering other candidates, but the team has suffered consecutive defeats to Brighton and Liverpool and has managed just three points from their first three games.
The club's chief executive Omar Berrada and sporting director Dan Ashworth have both backed Ten Hag. Before Sunday's 3-0 home defeat to Liverpool, Berrada was asked whether the Dutch manager would continue to back United despite the club's losing streak. He replied: “Do we still have confidence in Eric? Of course. We think Eric is the right manager for us and we have his full support.”
Jim Ratcliffe's Ineos side's search for a replacement for ten Hag this summer was led by technical director Jason Wilcox as Ashworth was not yet in the position, and Velada was also not at United when ten Hag signed a one-year contract extension until 2026.
Berrada said: “In terms of the contract, that was a decision made before we arrived, but we're very happy with the decision. Eric has our full support and, as Dan said previously, we've worked very closely together on this.” [summer] “In the transfer market we will continue to work closely with him to give him the best possible results.”
Asked if he was happy that, as sporting director, he had no say in whether ten Hag stayed on, Ashworth referred to his previous jobs: “You had Eddie Howe at Newcastle and Tony Mowbray at West Brom,” he said. “It's very unusual to come into a sporting director job without having a manager.”
Ashworth was asked if he really had no say in ten Hag's future as his own success is mainly dependent on the performance of the first team. “I didn't play until the first of July so I had no say at all,” he said. “I've really enjoyed working with Eric over the last eight weeks.
“I see my job as just to support him in every way I can, whether that's administratively, recruiting, medically, psychology, training ground dynamics, just to take as much of the burden off him as possible so he can fully concentrate on the tactical planning on the training ground and in matches to deliver success for Manchester United.”
At Old Trafford on Sunday, some fans booed Ten Hag and the players. Velada expressed his optimism about United's future: “I'm very optimistic about the situation we find ourselves in. We've started the right preparations and I'm absolutely convinced we will be successful.”
Berarda declined to say how long it would take for United to become consistent challengers again. “It's almost impossible to put a timescale on how to answer that question,” he said.
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“We are not going to be satisfied with winning the Premier League once. We want to build a team that can consistently compete in the Champions League, the Premier League and domestic cup competitions.”
Of the players Ten Hag has signed in his five transfer windows, Anthony, Lisandro Martinez, Andre Onana, Matthijs de Ligt and Nosair Mazraoui have all worked with the manager before, so it will be interesting to see whether he has a wide range of options in mind.
Ashworth said: “It’s natural human behaviour in any business environment to work with people you’ve worked with before because you know the player, but we’ve also signed players this summer who Eric hasn’t worked with before. [Leny] Endowment; [Manuel] Ugarte had never worked with [Joshua] “It's Zirksee. He's worked with Matthijs and Noos before and they were both on our radar. This was a joint decision.”
Jadon Sancho joined Chelsea on loan for this season with an obligation to buy for £20-25 million, and Ashworth said the winger had not been forced out. “We are not in a position to force players out of the club,” he said.
