Erik ten Hag does NOT have a new contract at Man Utd and Sir Jim Ratcliffe may have already signed his replacement

SO, LET’S cut through all the you-know-what and get to the heart of the situation.

Regardless of how this appears to have been painted, Erik ten Hag does not have a new contract at Manchester United.

There are no new guarantees and nothing has changed.

Yesterday’s big announcement left the Dutchman on the same thin ice he was negotiating before winning May’s FA Cup final against rivals City.

Ten Hag has effectively agreed to stay and work with the new football operations controllers who, not long ago, were looking for someone else for the role.

All that happened is that the extra year on his original contract was triggered to take him through 2026.

This is not an endorsement of a new four or five year agreement.

The 12-month outcome will remain the same if what seemed inevitable at the end of last Premier League season is postponed until the next if things don’t get off to a good start.

Ten Hag said: “I am delighted to have reached an agreement with the club to continue working together.”

In other words: “OK, I’ll stay.”

Erik ten Hag is no safer now than he was before the FA Cup victory

By Neil Custis

After Manchester United announced that Erik ten Hag would remain, they tried to explain why it took more than two weeks since the Dutchman paraded in the FA Cup at Wembley to actually tell him he still had the job.

A complete review of the season was required, although Ten Hag said before the Cup final that this had been done.

The club said it had “considered all eventualities”.

In other words, ‘which coach would be best for us, not necessarily the type we have?’.

And the club also took pains to make clear how much it admired Ten Hag’s “dedication, dignity and professionalism”.

In other words, he didn’t publicly criticize the appalling way he was being treated, despite asking Ratcliffe for a public vote of confidence months before the season finale.

Let us remember that Ratcliffe didn’t even mention Ten Hag in his ‘congratulations message’ after the FA Cup victory, despite the fact that it all depended on him and the way he outperformed Pep Guardiola that day.

Read Neil Custis’ full column on Manchester United.

Elsewhere he stated: “We find complete unity in our vision.”

Which means everyone wants to win trophies – well, that’s a relief.

He added: “We are strongly committed to taking this journey together.”

How they manage this is another thing, because right now the strings are being pulled from different directions, with Ten Hag in danger of being the puppet.

After all, the coaching team he had assembled has been dismantled and replaced, with the arrival of Go Ahead Eagles coach Rene Hake and the club’s goalscoring legend Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Or the future coach and assistant, if we listen to the more cynical observers of what is happening at the club.

Striker coach Benni McCarthy has left and Ten Hag’s former right-hand man at Ajax, Mitchell van der Gaag, also appears to be on his way.

Why did Ten Hag agree to all this? Leaks from inside Old Trafford say it’s because Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s word is law.

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Regarding leaks, a recent email – apparently warning staff to stop publicizing what was happening at the club – WAS LEAKED.

Ratcliffe has put the likes of Sir David Brailsford, new sporting director Dan Ashworth, CEO Omar Berrada and technical director Jason Wilcox to do his bidding.

Newcastle released Ashworth this week and he said: “Erik has reinforced his record as one of the most successful coaches in Europe.”

If that is the case, why were talks held with Thomas Tuchel, as the hierarchy admitted to a dismayed Lt Hag?

Ashworth added that “the club’s analysis of last season highlighted areas for improvement”. Cheers, Sherlock.

Although these words were being written before yesterday’s 11am launch, none of the big names were on display when the devastating news was delivered at a staff meeting that 250 of the 1,100 were unemployed.

It’s fair to say that morale is not high at Old Trafford at the moment.

Meanwhile, players who did not complete international missions return to training on Monday.

Roll-up, roll-up, the circus is still in town.

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