Former Manchester United captain Gary Neville insists Erik ten Hag should not be sacked amid claims the blame should be laid at the manager.
The Dutchman has been getting the blame for recent results from pundits alike, however, I don’t think anyone of them have a realistic solution at mind for United to jump to. It would be just a matter of rinse a repeat – a mentality the club needs to step away from.
Fans have long protested against the Glazer ownership and will continue to do with, even with new investment from Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS.
Gary Neville believes the blame should instead be focused on the Glazer family for the situation the Reds find themselves in the pitch.
Ahead of the visit from Bournemouth, which ended in a 3-0 defeat at Old Trafford, United fans were buzzing after beating Chelsea 2-1 three days prior. The feel-good factor around the place was shortly lived as Dominic Solanke, Philp Billing and Marcos Senesi scored to give Bournemouth a memorable victory at the Theatre of Dreams.
That disappointing result led to critics suggesting Ten Hag is a man on borrowed time, despite winning November’s Premier League Manager of the Month award for a third time.
Neville has pointed out performances and results must improve, but he is adamant that changing the manager won’t fix anything.
The Sky Sports pundit explained (via Manchester Evening News): “There is no way they should change him this season, this idea of sacking him is absolute nonsense and I would not be in favour of that.
“I know people say you can’t blame the Glazers (for what is happening on the pitch) but yeah you can. Yeah you can because 10 years of failure and miserable recruitment comes down to the fact they have not got a sporting director or a proper head of recruitment in place.
“That is why this happens. Ultimately managers look above them and think they haven’t got anyone above them so they might as well just do it themselves. This is all down to the leadership.
“If it happened once, fair enough, if it happened twice you would ask a question but this is five times, five times in 10 years. They have spent a billion quid, on the limit of FFP, £700m in debt, £300m going to other clubs, the bank overdraft is at £250-300m, they are £1.2bn under.
“Jim Ratcliffe has got to come in and sort this out and you wonder how he is going to come in and do it and that’s the concern I have. What we need is a change of structure at the top, that will hopefully happen in the next few weeks, hopefully that will change the way in which the sporting project is looked at because you can’t come in and leave everything as is. “Then maybe, with some leadership and structure around the club, maybe Manchester United can compete with some of the other clubs who recruit and do their business a lot better.”
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