Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Erik ten Hag (Photos by Mike Hewitt, Charlotte Tattersall/Getty Images)
Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe may reportedly be looking to go English for the club’s next manager as Gareth Southgate and Eddie Howe are among the names under consideration to replace Erik ten Hag.
It’s not been the best start to the season for Man Utd, with Ten Hag now surely under growing pressure as he continues to struggle to get the best out of this team despite it being his third season in charge, and with plenty of backing to get the signings he wanted in the last few years.
According to Team Talk, Ratcliffe is now eyeing up as many as four options to replace Ten Hag, with the report naming Southgate and Howe as candidates, along with former Chelsea manager Graham Potter, plus Italian tactician Simone Inzaghi of Inter Milan.
The report goes on to say that Potter would be very keen to speak to United, while Howe has the connection with former Newcastle United director Dan Ashworth, who recently moved to Old Trafford.
Southgate also has a positive relationship with Ashworth and the report states that Ratcliffe admirers the former England manager for the job he did with the national team.
Should Sir Jim Ratcliffe get rid of Erik ten Hag?
The big question for United now is whether it’s really the best idea to keep changing manager, as it hasn’t exactly paid off for them in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era.
Football was obviously pretty different back when Ferguson first started as United manager, but he was notably backed and given time after a difficult start with the club.
Since his retirement in 2013, however, United have not been able to find any real improvement despite going through David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ralf Rangnick and now Ten Hag.
It may genuinely be that Ten Hag and a few of the others weren’t the best choice, but MUFC also surely need to be a bit more patient and realise that changing managers isn’t helping them.
It will be interesting to see how United’s upcoming games go, but one imagines Porto and Aston Villa will be crucial to determine whether or not Ratcliffe pulls the plug.
