Does Sir Jim Ratcliffe know what he's doing? Man Utd's handling of Erik ten Hag & messy start to the transfer window doesn't bode well for their chances of a swift revival

INEOS inherited Ten Hag as United's head coach, which meant the Dutchman had to prove he deserved to be a part of the Ratcliffe revolution. For the most part, Ten Hag failed his audition, as United slumped to their worst-ever Premier League finish, losing a record 14 games along the way.

The worst of those came at Selhurst Park on May 8, as Palace romped to an emphatic 4-0 win over the Red Devils, who only managed two shots on target over the 90 minutes. "This is one of the most poorly coached teams in the Premier League, that is a fact," Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher declared on Sky Sports after the game, which didn't feel like an exaggeration.

It was far from an isolated performance, either. United were outplayed by almost every opponent and consistently overrun in midfield, with star names such as Marcus Rashford, Casemiro, Antony and Raphael Varane all guilty of falling well below the required standard.

For all of Ten Hag's attempts to talk up the significance of United's bad luck with injuries, he was incredibly lucky to hold on to his job. At any other top European club, he'd have probably been gone by the end of November, after United's dismal early Champions League and Carabao Cup exits.

It wasn't until the day before United's FA Cup final clash with Manchester City that The Guardian reported Ten Hag would lose his job, regardless of the result at Wembley. And then the impossible happened: United pulled off an incredible 2-1 victory to clinch the trophy, prompting INEOS to instead conduct an extensive end-of-season review.

The review process took two long weeks, and Ten Hag was not called in to give any testimony. During that time, INEOS didn't only assess the campaign in detail, they also spoke with potential replacements for the former Ajax boss.

According to Sky Sports, former Bayern Munich and Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel was among those to speak to Ratcliffe, and it was reported the German felt he had 'unfinished business' in the Premier League. Gareth Southgate, Mauricio Pochettino and Thomas Frank were also said to be on United's shortlist, but in the end, they stuck with Ten Hag.

When pressed on that decision, Ratcliffe told Bloomberg: "The coach isn't the central issue at Manchester United. It’s a sports club. It needs to be competitive, it needs a degree of intensity. But with a supportive side to it because you are dealing with players who are relatively young. It hasn’t had that type of environment historically."

It's certainly true that Ten Hag has done a fine job nurturing United's young talent, with Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho both blossoming under his guidance. But if Ratcliffe didn't think Ten Hag was the issue, why did he bother speaking to other managers?

It has been reported that United are now working on a two-year contract extension for Ten Hag, which would keep him at Old Trafford until 2027. The whole thing feels like a U-turn, with INEOS only giving him a vote of confidence because they couldn't settle on an alternative candidate that aligns with their vision.

The celebratory mood after the FA Cup final quickly gave way to confusion because of the way Ratcliffe and Co kept Ten Hag on a hook. The official line was that two trophies in two years outweighed the all the negatives, but even the man himself was blindsided by the final verdict.

"Never a dull moment at Manchester United. Last week they suddenly showed up on my doorstep, with the message that they would like to continue with me," Ten Hag told Dutch outlet NOS last week. "They took extensive time to evaluate everything. They also told me that they have spoken to Thomas Tuchel. It is no secret to me that they have spoken to several trainers. In the Netherlands, that is not done, it is not allowed at all if you still have a sitting trainer. In England, the rules are a bit different, but in the end they came to the conclusion that they already had the best trainer. They came to Ibiza with that message."

The 54-year-old would have been well within his rights to slam the door in United's face. INEOS publicly humiliated Ten Hag by conducting their so-called 'review' in the public eye, and in doing so completely undermined his position.

It was suggested that Ten Hag had lost the dressing room on numerous occasions last season, with internal doubts supposedly raised over his tactical know-how and man-management. The FA Cup triumph went a long way to quashing those rumours, but how long will it be until the next leak from inside the squad now that the part-owners have also gone behind his back?

Premier League icon Alan Shearer has been saddened by the whole saga, saying to Betfred: “It takes a lot of his power away from him. Will the players look at him and think he's a really strong manager and he's in a strong position? Probably not, because of the way they have treated him. It was meant to be all new at Old Trafford with the very best coming in - I don't think they've got off to a good start.”

Ratcliffe has also made some worrying statements about United's current status in the transfer market. There's no doubt that significant investment will be needed for the club to have any hope of getting back into the Premier League's top four, but key appointments in the recruitment division have yet to be finalised.

New CEO Omar Berrada, formerly of Manchester City, is not due to start work until July, while prospective sporting director Dan Ashworth has been placed on gardening leave by Newcastle, and United have yet to reach an agreement on a compensation fee. "We’re sort of a bit handicapped in that sense, so I think we’ll do a fairly good job," said Ratcliffe. "It will take two or three summer windows to get to a better place. I’m not confident that we’ll solve all the problems in the first transfer window."

It was reported in May that United would be working with a transfer budget of just £35m ($44m), but that number could be pushed far higher through player sales. Getting the hefty wages of Anthony Martial and Varane off their books was a good start, and it has been suggested that another 10 first-team stars could be sold outright.

The Sun claims that Rashford, Antony, Jadon Sancho, Mason Greenwood, Casemiro and Harry Maguire are among those on the chopping block, though Ratcliffe is not convinced they're sitting on a goldmine. “Manchester United doesn't have any players that are valued at €100 million or more,” he said.

Ratcliffe has also insisted that signing another superstar name “isn’t going to solve the problem at Manchester United”, and it's difficult to disagree. The Red Devils have spent well over a billion on new players in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era, with marquee names like Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku, Angel Di Maria and Alexis Sanchez all spectacularly failing to justify their huge price tags.

United are now in the market for younger talent, and have seemingly made strengthening the defence their top priority. Jean-Clair Todibo has long been at the top of their wishlist, with the Nice ace seen as the ideal replacement for Varane, while it has also been reported that a bid has been launched for Everton youngster Jarrad Branthwaite.

In the case of Todibo, any chances of a deal have been scuppered even before formal talks could begin as Nice are still owned by INEOS. As per The Telegraph, UEFA are cracking down hard on multi-club ownership models, and won't allow two teams that have qualified for the same European competition to conduct transfer business.

UEFA will reportedly let both United and Nice play in the Europa League next term, but they are taking a firmer stance on the transfer front in a bid to avoid any allegations of bias. Without specifically naming Todibo, Ratcliffe vented his frustration to Bloomberg. "They’ve said we can sell him to another Premiership club but we can’t sell to Manchester United," Ratcliffe said. "But that’s not fair on the player and I don’t see what that achieves."

It's a messy state of affairs for the Red Devils, who also look set to miss out on Branthwaite, having failed to learn their lesson when it comes to the infamous 'English tax'. United have spent over the odds for top English players over the years, including Maguire and Mason Mount, and other clubs now know they can squeeze them during negotiations.

Predictably, Everton rejected United's opening £45m ($57m) bid for Branthwaite (including add-ons) instantly, and have made it clear they won't accept less than £70m ($89m). ESPN says United are prepared to walk away, which would be the right call given the 21-year-old's lack of experience, but it does make you wonder why they even bothered in the first place.

Ratcliffe has also made some controversial changes to the general working set up at United. The club implemented a flexible work from home policy after the Covid pandemic, which is now common across the world, but the INEOS chairman is adamant about having all staff on site.

As the The Guardian reports, Ratcliffe implemented a ban on working from home and declared in a company-wide meeting: "If you don’t like it, please seek ­alternative employment." He argued that email traffic would be healthier and general productivity higher with everyone in the office, but the report adds some staff members were confused by his rationale, not least because of a lack of working space for each sector of the business.

Senior figures have also been affected, as Ratcliffe has carried out his structural assessment behind the scenes, cancelling all corporate credit cards to cut spending in April. However, in the long term, the 71-year-old is confident that respect will be the reward for his hard stance on certain issues.

"I think at the end of the day, doing difficult things, and you know, a degree of unpopularity, in a funny sort of way, might make you more popular," he said. "Because somebody's seeing that you're standing up and making some difficult decisions, rather than just sort of blowing with the wind a bit."

Earning the respect of the fans will be his toughest task, though. If United don't start the new season well, and Ten Hag is still selecting the same group of misfits that have let the team down time and time again, another crisis will soon rear it's head.

Right now, it's still unclear as to whether Ratcliffe really knows what he's doing, and some of the choices he's made could well come back to bite him. The world will be watching.