The Crucial Manchester United Meeting That Will Shape Erik ten Hag’s Future

Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sir Dave Brailsford are attending a meeting of United’s executive committee on Tuesday

The meeting of Manchester United’s executive committee is under way at Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Knightsbridge offices as the club’s brains trust ponder the future of manager Erik ten Hag.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe was spotted entering the Ineos offices in London earlier this morning, with Ineos head of sport Sir Dave Brailsford and United sporting director Dan Ashworth following the 71-year-old in.

Co-owner Joel Glazer will also attend the executive committee meeting, along with chief operating officer Collette Roche and chief financial officer Roger Bell. Jean-Claude Blanc, who sits on United’s football board, will also attend alongside the club’s technical director Jason Wilcox.

The meeting of the executive committee has been in the diary for several weeks and isn’t a reaction to a dispiriting run of form that has seen Ten Hag fail to win any of his last five games in charge. Ratcliffe wants the club to hold monthly meetings and there was a gathering in Barcelona in September when he was watching the Ineos Britannia boat in the America’s Cup qualifiers.

Tuesday’s talks will asses the progress at first-team level and will inevitably include a focus on Ten Hag’s position. He survived an end-of-season review in the summer despite the Ineos leadership holding talks with alternative candidates, including Thomas Tuchel who remains out of work and of interest to United’s football structure.

United took the one-year option in Ten Hag’s contract in July, extending his deal until the end of the 2025/26 season, but the team have won just three of their first 11 matches in all competitions this season, extending a run back to the start of last season that has produced just 27 wins from 63 games.

Ratcliffe joined Brailsford, Berrada, Wilcox and Ashworth at Villa Park on Sunday to watch the goalless draw with Aston Villa, which came on the back of a chaotic 3-3 draw in Porto in the Europa League.

United are 14th in the Premier League after seven games, and their tally of five goals is only ahead of Southampton, who have found the back of the net on five occasions.