Frankly they should have already made this decision. And announced it. Either way. If he's not the guy for the system the smart guys want to run then cut your losses. If he is then add on extra years and go. Either way get off the pot. It's going to affect transfers.

This is looking more and more like it's Glazers2.0 than INEOS1.0.

Complete with famously indecisive Joel Glazer leading the review with Ratcliffe. As the Who says, "Come meet the new boss. Same as the old boss."

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cv221v855e9o

Yeah, there's really no logical explanation for needing more time to understand the situation and do analysis. You've been at the club since February. You've seen how the club performed, who was injured, etc. Really the only calculus remaining is 1) is spending the X amount needed to bin ETH and his team the best use of X given other areas of need and how the club performed over the last 2 seasons (and yes, you have to acknowledge both seasons) and 2) is there a relatively inexpensive candidate available who you can say with a relatively high degree of certainty is a much better option and will fit into your 3-4 year plan?

They should definitely be able to answer #1 at this point and they should have a pretty good sense of #2. And honestly for some reason they don't know and it's not clear, then the answer is clearly to keep him. You don't make a change if it's not clear that you should. Unless they want to return to old United ways and be left scrambling and overpaying in late August to bring in players, get this decision done this week and move on.

Some interesting info in the last half of this article or so (front half was repeating a lot of what was already known)

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5536658/2024/06/04/man-united-transfers-latest/?source=emp_shared_article

Omari Forson is likely to leave the club. Assumed this when they said earlier in the season that they could not agree on a contract renewal. Brandon Williams will leave at the end of June as well. Evans and Heaton could very well be given new 1 year contracts.

Based on PSR and budget, it's estimated that United will only have about 50 million available to spend (net) which is why virtually everyone is available if the price is right. Crucial that United get good value out of Sancho and Greenwood if they want to make significant moves this summer and equally important that they get them done sooner rather than later. Otherwise, you're looking at 1 big transfer and then loans/free transfers to round out the squad which are likely to be unimpressive. Wilcox has his work cut out for him as it will be pretty much left to him in absence of Berrada (joining mid-July) and Ashworth (joining God knows when).

If you believe the latest "news", Wilcox suggested to Ratcliffe that they dismiss ETH based mostly (entirely?) on his suitability to continue and not as a part of an assessment of who should replace him. Ratcliffe's decision has been made more difficult following the FA Cup and because they are not close to assessing Tuchel's or Pochettino's suitability for the role because they can not proceed in an assessment of either while ETH is still the manager.

But with the transfer window opening in 9 days (domestic transfer season) there is an expectation that a decision will be made this week and possibly as soon as today.

Let's be honest. The transfer window opens next week but the work will already have been done by the sharp clubs. Thats been one of the biggest issues. Because United has waited to finalize transfers they overpay. Well that's one of the reasons they overpay but it's a factor.

If putting off the managerial decision means players are reluctant to agree to transfers then nothing will end up changing.

This decision (either way) needs to have been made and completed last week.

Saw this. I knew that Arteta almost got sacked in his second/third season. At one point he was "win next week or see ya". I think more than once.

Maguire injured his calf and won't make final Euros squad. Sorry for him. Happy he'll get some rest before the start of next season (as I'm pretty sure he'll be, at worst, United's 4th choice CB).

Yeah it's a real shame to hear that about Maguire since this would likely be his last major tournament internationally.

Today's Greenwood rumor is that Juventus is interested and he is interested in Juventus. Juventus wants to offer Chiesa in a player swap but Chiesa is drawing interest from Chelsea and Arsenal for a fee.

Chiesa is primarily a left winger so I'm not sure how that helps us unless we move Garnacho to the right on a more permanent basis. Chiesa and Greenwood are each valued at about 35 million. Tell Juventus to hurry and sell Chiesa to one of those London clubs and then we'll gladly take that 35 million for Greenwood. Everyone wins.

Dre_00 said:

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If you believe the latest "news", Wilcox suggested to Ratcliffe that they dismiss ETH based mostly (entirely?) on his suitability to continue and not as a part of an assessment of who should replace him. Ratcliffe's decision has been made more difficult following the FA Cup and because they are not close to assessing Tuchel's or Pochettino's suitability for the role because they can not proceed in an assessment of either while ETH is still the manager.

But with the transfer window opening in 9 days (domestic transfer season) there is an expectation that a decision will be made this week and possibly as soon as today.

---

Hey, what do you know. It was BS.

2 full business weeks since the FA Cup and nothing. Those *******s are waiting for Southgate, aren't they?

Like Sky, we need to focus on important news stories. I don't want to alarm anyone but we can't hide from the bad news any longer:



Marcus Rashford got a speeding ticket.

https://news.sky.com/story/amp/marcus-rashford-man-utd-forward-caught-speeding-on-m60-in-rolls-royce-just-months-after-car-crash-13149378

Breaking story, will try to keep everyone updated. Amazing journalism breaking this huge story.

Gotta sell him now.

There are reports that they want Southgate and that they will wait until after the EUROs as that pushes the payout into next year for FFP.

If so that's the same song and dance as before. It's a new name but the old system. And that means the output will not be any different.

We'll see what happens but this already feels like the beginning of a Glazer summer. I don't expect the first summer to be perfect while you're still laying the foundations. But after last season, I also don't expect there to be a lot of grace or slack given. Fans realize it's a process but they need something to get excited about and if United dither on this managerial decision just so they can hire Southgate in mid-July and then make rash decisions in mid to late August to bolster the squad, Ratcliffe will have squandered most if not all of whatever good grace he was given.

Still plenty of time for none of that to be the case, but two weeks in and it feels like they still don't really know how they want to attack this summer.

Honestly, and maybe they just have tighter lids on leaks, but I'm less sure of who we want this year than the past few years at this time. It turned into a complete debacle of course, but weren't we already heavily linked to Frenkie de Jong by this point a couple years ago? Seems like that talk started almost as soon as ten Hag showed up. Pretty sure the Mason Mount talk was pretty hot by now last year.

This year… there are a lot of links like usual, but none seem overly strong. Maybe Todibo, but even that seems iffy, and SJR owns Nice, so you would think that would be easier than normal.

We supposedly want to sell and buy a lot of people, but it sure doesn't seem like we are in much of a hurry.

BTW, before Dre-by downer harshes my mellow, I actuallly came to post that Ole is getting linked to the Leicester job. Hope he gets it.

Showstopper said:

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BTW, before Dre-by downer harshes my mellow

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Almost paid the extra money just so I could put the laughing emoji on this post. Almost.

Romano reporting that Tuchel opted out of further discussions with United as he wants to take a break through the summer. Maybe gunning for a national team job post Copa/Euros?

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5550570/2024/06/09/manchester-united-thomas-tuchel-ten-hag/?source=twitteruk&utm_campaign=twitterfc&utm_medium=social

Oliver Kay making the claim that United going after Tuchel goes against everything that the new owners professed to be looking for in a manager. Tuchel was never going to work in the system they say they want to build. Adds that De Zerbi likely wouldn't either.

Ends by saying it appears that they want a person who doesn't exist and that they should stick with the continuity of ETH until they figure out exactly what they want to do. I of course loved that part. But by the time they realize that (if they realize that) ETH might be fed up and leave on his own.

It's dragging on way too long. At some point you have to make a decision. Not making a decision is a decision, it's just a continuing bad one. If you are this committed to replacing him, it would have been better to do it after the FA final. If you want to keep him, it would have been better to do it after the final. Neither decision is getting better with time; we aren't making wine.

Just now noticing that Shaw made the final England squad for the Euros. Can't decide if this is good for him to maybe get a little competitive time before the start of the season or bad because it's just another opportunity for him to injure something.

Hojlund, Bruno, and Dalot are the only other first teamers that will likely get a lot of playing time. Everyone cross your fingers they come through unscathed. If Portugal and Denmark were to crash out early, I wouldn't cry.

Lisandro Martinez will get plenty of summer pt as well for Argentina.

Could argue he would get benefit out of it after missing so much of the regular season and he isn't injury prone...or at least not Luke Shaw levels of injury prone. But yeah, in general I selfishly prefer the players of my club team to not play in international tournaments given the insane workload elite players have these days.

Omari Forson signing with Monza on a free transfer according to Romano. I doubt they have the finances to offer a significantly higher salary than what United was offering so my guess is that this is more about playing time. Forson likely didn't see a path to decent minutes next season.

United will get some compensation but will be a pretty small amount I think.

Erik is staying. Will be interesting to see what the extension looks like. Should have made a decision a week ago but at least it's made now. In the grand scheme of things, doing this now vs. 6 days ago isn't going to make or break our season. Now let's go get some **** done in the transfer season.

🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Erik ten Hag to stay as Manchester United manager. #MUFC end-of-season review culminated with decision to keep 54yo in position. After talks today Dutchman will remain at Old Trafford + hold negotiations over contract extension @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/tAzM2Ld378

— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) June 11, 2024

Two plus weeks too late.

Now do all the transfers in June not August.

Well I wasn't on the ETH train, but glad the rumors of waiting for Southgate were false. Honestly I prefer that we wait until the entire admin team is in place before we make a coaching change anyway. I don't want "he wasn't my guy" talk anyway.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5543044/2024/06/12/erik-ten-hag-manchester-united-why-not-sacked/

The inevitable details on how and why United reached their decision regarding their manager. Some interesting points.

• Ineos had no intention of even considering his removal when they first joined. They wanted to wait till Ashworth came on (sensible) before making any assessment or decision but performances slowly changed the situation.
• ten Hag was nearly canned after Palace. And almost replaced before the FA Cup final even with improved performances against Arsenal, Newcastle and Brighton. So the FA Cup win literally saved his ass.
• The 50 million budget for this summer was under the assumption of no European football. That number goes up as a result of the FA Cup win (doesn't indicate how much)

They considered a bunch of options at various points (even Roberto Martinez...eek) but only Tuchel reached the point of discussing finances. But in the end, they landed on ETH partly because they didn't like their options and partly because of his success last season, winning two trophies, vastly exceeding expectations at Ajax when having a proper structure around him, and the amount of injuries the team suffered this season.

The Athletic put out a podcast with Ornstein (who I believe was the first to break the story) and a few others from the Athletic on the decision. I'm an Athletic subscriber, so a lot of it is cumulative with the above, but it's kind of an alternative medium.



What will be interesting (to me, anyway) is what the contract extension structure is (the terms that are made public, anyway).

I've thought a lot about this and I think they almost have to give him a 3 year contract and then maybe stick in a clause that gives them a reasonable out and hope that clause never gets out. That last part especially seems unlikely. Even a two year guarantee doesn't really give the vote of confidence that I think you have to give after this grand saga or else you don't kill the story. A two year guarantee and the media is still going to lead with this story every single time United wobble a bit and United need to kill that as much as they are able to or else this story will kill any momentum United may manage to build.

There's been reports of a three year term already (I assume from the club because who else would know). It almost has to be three because they have an option to extend one year, so two years really doesn't necessitate an extension. They might have to just make the buyout 10 mil (ie the current amount, allegedly) but extend the term. No one really has an incentive to make that public so it wouldn't necessarily get out.

Man, The Athletic has been on it the last few days. New article out with some more interesting info...based on anonymous club sources so take it for what you will.

There's far too much information in it for me to adequately summarize it. But the very high level summary would be that a number of players (Ronaldo, Varane, Casemiro, Sancho etc.) have had issues with ETH's style in various ways but mostly boiling down to them wanting more freedom on and off the pitch and not liking the structure that ETH installed. Thankfully younger players (specifically Garnacho and Mainoo) have responded well to ETH even in the face of criticisms.

There's still a substantial discipline issue at the club as more freedom generally led to more instances of indiscipline. This coupled with the lack of any executive authority (Murtough and even Fletcher really didn't give a damn about setting expectations) led ETH to bring even more structure and rules to the day-to-day which just made the problem worse with the players who didn't feel that was needed.

Some other info about the medical team and transfers...or lack thereof. Just an insane amount of information...if you trust the writer's anonymous sources.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5549017/2024/06/14/erik-ten-hag-player-tensions-principles-play/?source=emp_shared_article

50 million GBP renovation of Carrington. Work starts Monday and expected to take the entire 24/25 season.

https://www.manutd.com/en/news/detail/man-utd-to-invest-50m-in-carrington-training-facility?utm_campaign=ManUtd&utm_medium=post&utm_source=twitter

There has been a lot of speculation regarding CB Branthwaite from Everton. Everton's price seems too high to me given our budget, The Telegraph put an article out yesterday that we agreed personal terms, but the larger stumbling block to me is the club agreement. He's someone that, for me personally, every time I watch Everton myself I'm not that impressed, I think he made the England squad and did OK in like March, but he didn't make the Euro squad even though Maguire is out injured. (Not that I care about England).

Basically, I'm not a huge fan, but the noise is increasing admittedly. If they wanted to do a swap deal plus cash for Maguire and Maguire wanted to leave so he could start, then maybe. (And even then… we would need to then replace Maguire and probably sign a short extension deal with Lindeloff). Don't listen to me, I'm biased against it, but I have to admit the noise is getting hard to ignore.

🚨 Manchester United make opening offer to sign Jarrad Branthwaite from Everton. #MUFC bid for centre-back £35m. Deemed unacceptable + set to be rejected in due course. #EFC believe 21yo happy & would require much higher fee to consider sale @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/aJl8aUU42M

— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) June 14, 2024

🔵⤵️ Everton mantain their position on Jarrad Branthwaite: at least £65/70m or no chance to sell. https://t.co/KfSuo5UQxr

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) June 14, 2024