Better late than never! Man Utd should have sacked Erik ten Hag last summer - now INEOS dilly-dallying has wasted valuable time and money

United's dithering has already cost them a hefty amount in extra compensation to Ten Hag compared to if they had parted ways with him in the summer. It was reported last May that sacking the Dutchman, who had one year left on his contract at the time, would have cost around £10 million (£13m). Triggering the one-year extension and giving him a contract until June 2026, therefore, would likely raise that figure to around £17m ($22m). And that is before you consider the amount if will cost to hire a new manager, especially one who is already employed elsewhere.

United have effectively thrown away £7m ($9m) by stalling for four months on a decision that they should have taken over the summer. That might not seem like a lot given United made £662m ($860m) in revenue according to their last accounts, but it is a considerable amount in the context of the brutal cost-cutting regime Ratcliffe has implemented since taking the reins of the club's football operation.

The billionaire has made 250 members of staff redundant and even cut ties with Sir Alex Ferguson, the club's greatest manager of all time and the reason why United are the global phenomenon they are today. The £7m they have parted with by giving Ten Hag that short-lived new contract could have paid the salaries of scores of those loyal employees. It also eats up a sizeable portion of the £30m ($39m) the club said it would save over two years by making those redundancies.

The £7m, however, pales in comparison to the amount of money United spent last summer on players that Ten Hag clearly pushed to sign. The club shelled out £178m ($231m) in the last transfer window on five new players, and while Manuel Ugarte and Leny Yoro appear to have been chosen by sporting director Dan Ashworth, it is reasonable to suggest that the manager asked to sign Noussair Mazraoui and Matthjis de Ligt, who both played under him at Ajax, as well as his fellow Dutchman Joshua Zirkzee. The trio cost a combined £95m ($123m).

Zirkzee has scored just one goal since his £36m ($46m) move from Bologna, and although he set up Casemiro's goal against West Ham on Sunday, he has often looked clumsy and slow when he has played. De Ligt and Mazraoui, meanwhile, have been inconsistent, and it is hard to imagine that they would have been signed had a different manager been in place over the summer.

The former Ajax duo's arrival meant that United spent £250m ($324m) on players Ten Hag had previously worked with at the Amsterdam giants. Only Andre Onana (admittedly after a very tough start) and Lisandro Martinez have been successes, with Antony looking like one of the worst signings in Premier League history.

United's dilly-dallying over Ten Hag has also left them with fewer obvious successors than if they had pulled the trigger in June. Mauricio Pochettino, who was greatly admired by Ferguson and was Ten Hag's main rival for the Old Trafford dugout in 2022, is now the manager of the United States. Tuchel, who held advanced talks with the club over the summer, is now the England head coach. Roberto De Zerbi was on the market over the summer but has since taken charge of Marseille.

Julian Nagelsmann is also out of the question after renewing his contract with Germany back in April, when United should have been making contingency plans for Ten Hag's successor. Xavi Hernandez has effectively ruled himself out of the running for the now vacant job as he does not want to take on a new role until next season. Gareth Southgate also recently said he wants to take an extended break from management after leaving the England job in the summer.

Graham Potter and Edin Terzic lead a now uninspiring list of managers who are currently out of work and could realistically get the job. Prising a highly-rated manager who is currently employed, such as Ruben Amorim or Thomas Frank, will be much harder to pull off at this stage of the season as their clubs would find it much harder to find a replacement and would therefore charge far more in compensation.

Sacking Ten Hag four months into the season rather than last June looks all the more remarkable given that United made high-profile executive appointments just weeks after they had decided to stick with the manager. Omar Berrada began work as the club's new chief executive in July, around the same time that Ashworth started as sporting director.

Ashworth and Berrada sought to distance themselves from the call to keep Ten Hag when they spoke to the media before the Liverpool game in September as they were still on gardening leave from their previous roles at Manchester City and Newcastle, respectively. Berrada said: "In terms of the contract, that was a decision that was taken prior to both of our arrivals. But we’re very happy with that decision. Erik has our full backing and we have worked very closely together in this transfer window. We’re going to continue working very closely with him to help him get the best results out of the team."

The pair's words ring hollow now after they chose to sack Ten Hag, and the unusual timing of their arrival begs the question: why could Ratcliffe and INEOS director Sir Dave Brailsford not have delayed the decision on the Dutchman until they began work? And why did they deem it necessary to extend Ten Hag's contract when he had another year left anyway?

United were at pains to point out that they had shown Ten Hag patience and had genuinely believed he could have got the team firing again within the club's new-look structure. A source said: "This was a difficult and finely-balanced decision, but a collective and unanimous one. We wanted to give Erik the opportunity to work within a new sporting structure, but ultimately, neither the results nor the performances have been good enough across last season and into this one. We wanted to have continuity at a time of significant change, but we are not seeing the momentum and progress to believe we are on the right path."

It was evident to most onlookers that United were not on the right path last season, as they lost 19 games in all competitions. Ten Hag always blamed the Red Devils' results and performances on the team's injury crisis, and when United renewed his contract, club sources said that the unusual number of injuries was one of a number of mitigating circumstances which led to him getting the benefit of the doubt.

But there was little indication that him staying in charge was going to improve their fortunes with fitness issues. Indeed, one has to wonder whether Ten Hag's reluctance to rotate his squad has been a factor in the spate of injuries the team have suffered in the last two seasons. The manager reached for that tired excuse ahead of the West Ham game and afterwards screamed "injustice" over the late and controversial penalty awarded against his side. Yet there was no excuse for his side failing to take their early chances at the London Stadium and their wastefulness in front of goal spoke of a crisis of confidence among the squad. Berrada and Ashworth evidently came to the same conclusion.

"Ultimately, there are no excuses for our current performance. We have put everything we can in place to develop and we are not seeing any improvement," added the source. "For the second season in a row, we had a poor start in the league and we have failed to win our first three Europa League games from winning positions."

No pundit or fan will be criticising the club's hierarchy for getting rid of Ten Hag, and the numbers speak for themselves. United have won just four out of 14 games in all competitions this season, with a goal difference in the league of minus three. They have taken just 1.2 points per game in the Premier League and one per game in the Europa League, leaving them in 14th in the former and 21st in the latter. United are well off the pace to finish among the top four in the Premier League and return to the Champions League. And on current form they will struggle to reach even the play-offs of the Europa League.

If last season, aside from the FA Cup win, was a disaster, then this campaign is turning into a catastrophe. Ratcliffe and Brailsford, who talk of creating a "best in class" culture, should really have seen it coming. After all, United took 1.6 points per game last season and ended with a goal difference of minus one.

Now the INEOS brains and their highly renowned new executives must get their next decision right and hire a manager capable of turning United from a laughing stock into a force to be reckoned with. And whenever they start to get the impression that the new recruit is not working out, they must learn from this costly mistake and act swiftly before it's too late.