Sir Jim Ratcliffe suggests Erik ten Hag stance with brutal assessment of Man Utd’s post-Sir Alex Ferguson era

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Sir Jim Ratcliffe has given his first interview since completing his part-takeover of Manchester United on Tuesday.

It’s finally happened, Manchester United have finally got a new man in charge of sporting operations and it’s long overdue.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe arrives as the 25% stakeholder in Manchester United and along with that he’s taking control of everything sport-related.

We’ve already seen his influence appoint Omar Berrada as CEO and now with Dan Ashworth looking to be a matter of if not when, questions are turning to his view on Erik ten Hag.

When asked about his stance on United’s current boss, Sir Jim suggested his position by giving a brutal verdict on the past 11 years.

• READ MORE: Who is Sir Jim Ratcliffe? Net Worth, Businesses, Man Utd deal

Sir Jim Ratcliffe drops hint over Ten Hag’s future

Speaking with the BBC about the current Old Trafford gaffer, Sir Jim suggested that Ten Hag will get time to show he deserves his place.

In doing so, however, he issued a brutal verdict on United’s post-Sir Alex Ferguson era.

“What I would say in respect of the coach, in the last 11 years Man Utd has had a lot of coaches and nobody has been very successful in that environment. That says to me there is something wrong with the environment.”

To suggest that in effect, managers have likely failed due to the poor structure at the club is a brutal assessment of how the Glazer family have run this club since Sir Alex retired.

• READ MORE: Who are the Glazers? Meet the family of the chaos-inducing Manchester United owners

Erik ten Hag to be afforded the benefit of the doubt at Manchester United

So judging from Sir Jim’s words, it seems like Ten Hag may be handed the benefit of the doubt to show that the issues which have been prevalent this season aren’t his fault.

This will be a blessing for Ten Hag with the potential new structure at Carrington potentially set to be the best in the entire world.

With that sort of organisation above the manager, there won’t be any hiding place so Sir Jim will likely find out sooner or later if Ten Hag is the problem or not.

Although for years, United fans will have been aware that The Glazers and either Ed Woodward or Richard Arnold haven’t prioritised footballing operations and so the manager has often been left to his own devices.

With this change, Ten Hag could finally realise the managerial potential that everyone thought he had upon arriving at the club.

Exciting times are ahead for United.