Man Utd CEO affirms support for Ten Hag

Manchester United’s chief executive, Omar Berrada, has reiterated the club’s full support for manager Erik Ten Hag despite a difficult beginning to the Premier League season.

Despite finishing eighth last season, United’s lowest placement since 1990, Ten Hag guided the team to an unexpected FA Cup victory over Manchester City.

In July, Ten Hag received a one-year contract extension, though it followed a period of evaluating other options. The Dutch manager now faces renewed scrutiny after United’s 3-0 home defeat to Liverpool on Sunday, marking their second loss in three games and placing them 14th in the league.

Addressing concerns before the Liverpool match, Berrada, alongside new sporting director Dan Ashworth, emphasized that a few poor results would not undermine the club’s confidence in Ten Hag.

“Do we still believe in Erik? Absolutely,” he said. “We think Erik is the right coach for us and we’re fully backing him.”

Ten Hag’s contract was extended before either Berrada or Ashworth had taken up their positions but both said they were happy with the decision.

Ashworth said: “I’ve really enjoyed working with Erik for the last eight weeks.

“I see my job is to support him in every way I possibly can and whether that’s operationally, whether that’s with recruitment, whether that’s with medical, whether that’s with psychology, whether that’s training ground flow, it’s just to take as much of that off him to allow him to fully focus on the training pitch and the match tactical plan to deliver success for Manchester United.”

Ashworth’s first few weeks in the job were dominated by the transfer window, in which United signed Matthijs De Ligt, Manuel Ugarte, Joshua Zirkzee, Leny Yoro and Noussair Mazraoui.

But just as notable were the departures of players including Scott McTominay and Jadon Sancho.

After a falling-out with Ten Hag early last season Sancho returned to former club Borussia Dortmund on loan in January.

The pair appeared to have made up as Sancho took part in United’s pre-season and played in the Community Shield but on deadline day he joined Chelsea on loan with an obligation to buy.

Asked what had changed, Ashworth said it had been down to the player’s wish to move on.

“We felt we had enough depth in that particular position to be able to cover it, we’ve got four really good wide players — Jadon was a fifth — and it just enabled us to make that decision that if it was good for him and good for us it was something we were willing to consider,” he said.

“He wanted to explore the opportunity at Chelsea, like Scott wanted to explore the opportunity at Napoli, like Aaron (Wan-Bissaka) wanted to explore the opportunity at West Ham. We’re not in a position where we’re kicking players out of the club.”