It has been a year of success, and indeed chaos, for Manchester United under Erik ten Hag’s tutelage.
After a year that started off so positively with brilliant form in the Premier League as well as their Carabao Cup success against Newcastle United, their first trophy in six years, it has tailed off hugely in the second half of 2023.
The start of the 2023/24 season has been a disastrous one for Manchester United with 12 defeats in all competition for the Red Devils this season it has led to the pressure increasing on Erik ten Hag.
Here are three of the most controversial moments both on and off the pitch at Old Trafford.
The sale process
Towards the end of 2022, United and the Glazer family, announced that they would be exploring strategic alternatives to the ownership situation, which essentially meant the Red Devils were on the market.
Since then, however, the year 2023 has been about the yin and yang of a takeover saga that took up until Christmas Eve to resolve, a full 13 months on. Sheikh Jassim and Sir Jim Ratcliffe were the two billionaires fighting it out for control of football’s biggest crown jewel.
Bids, counter-bids and talks were held. Jassim looked to be in the lead, then Ratcliffe was before the pendulum swung back again to the Qatari billionaire and finally, the 71-year-old Englishman has won the race to buy the club, albeit just 25 per cent of the Red Devils.
With Ineos already making moves in the market to try and make United the best in the business in terms of recruitment and the structure off the pitch, this could end up being the start of a great new era for the Red Devils.
Mason Greenwood debacle
Perhaps the low point for Richard Arnold’s rather fruitless endeavour as Manchester United’s new CEO was his shoddy handling of the Mason Greenwood debacle.
Greenwood was suspended by the club pending an internal investigation but was surprisingly on the verge of being brought back to the club, before an investigation from The Athletic, which blew the whistle on the plans.
It claimed how United had listed charities who might oppose the decision to bring Greenwood back as ‘hostile’, which was not a good look at all. Greenwood may be currently flourishing at Spanish side Getafe, but that doesn’t change anything.
The decision to send him on loan was one the club should have reached sooner, and certainly not let a furore emerge on the week the Premier League season kicked off.
VAR mistakes
Perhaps let’s file this under ‘multiple moments’ on the pitch that have caused controversy, particularly in the second half of the calendar year, the use of VAR against the Red Devils.
United have had multiple 50/50 decisions go against them this season. A recent report emerged that VAR had actually gone against the Red Devils more than any other side in the division.
Whether it’s the recent red cards to Diogo Dalot or Marcus Rashford or the tight offside calls, or the double red cards shown to Casemiro earlier in 2023, Manchester United have been very badly done by.
The hope will be that they can have more luck in 2024 but that doesn’t seem likely at this moment in time.
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