After buying 25% of Manchester United, Sir Jim Ratcliffe has become the face of the football side of the business, with fans optimistically looking to Ratcliffe for strong decisions to help steer the club back to their former glory. It has been over a decade since Manchester United last lifted the Premier League title, a period which has seen a deterioration of on field performance as a result of poor off pitch leadership by the much despised Glazer family. Since Sir Alex Ferguson, The Red Devils have had 6 permanent and short term managers, a chaotic pattern which has been an issue confronted by Sir Jim Ratcliffe in his decision to extend the contract of Erik Ten Hag. Despite coming under much scrutiny, the Dutchman was able to keep hold of his job with INEOS determined to bring stability and consistency to Old Trafford by supporting their chosen manager as much as possible. This backing is evident in the influx of staff and backroom changes taking place at Man Utd that are being made to give Erik Ten Hag the best possible chance to deliver success on the pitch. The structural revamp at Old Trafford had started with the impressive appointments of Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox, and now this pursuit of a stronger leadership team has severely accelerated in past days since the confirmation of Ten Hag’s future, with the appointments of directors and coaching staff presenting an outlet of hope for the Manchester club.
“In my discussions with the club, we have found complete unity in our vision for reaching those goals, and we are all strongly committed to making that journey together.”
Erik ten Hag
Earlier in the year Sir Jim Ratcliffe made clear his ambition to change the frustrating patterns at Old Trafford. It started with managing to steal the revered Chief of Football Operations, Omar Berrada, from English champions Manchester City to become the new CEO at Man Utd. Berrada is one of the most admirable football executives in Europe who has consistently proven valuable leadership skills fuelled by his passion for football. This kickstarted the boardroom reshuffle under Ratcliffe and was later followed by the appointment of Jason Wilcox in April to become the new Technical Director of Manchester United. Wilcox has previously been Director of Football at Southampton and before that Academy Director at Manchester City, in which he did an extremely respectable job. In recent weeks the push to shake up the backroom structure at Manchester United has significantly increased, with many coaches and staff set to join Ratcliffe and Ten Hag to provide cohesive leadership for Man Utd in years to come.
“Football has taught me that if you set clear objectives, believe in your ideas, don’t dwell on the bad moments and work really really hard then your aims and dreams can be achieved.”
Omar Berrada
Dan Ashworth – New Sporting Director
Manchester United fans started the month with a key victory in the development of their football club, With Dan Ashworth finally announced as new Sporting Director after an agreement between Man Utd and Newcastle had been reached for the “immediate release” of Ashworth from his Newcastle contract. Ashworth is a well respected figure whose work is widely admired across Europe, most notably his role at Brighton in which he oversaw the signings of Caicedo, Trossard, Lamptey, Mitoma, Mac Allister, and Cucurella for a combined expenditure of £48.6 million, many would go on to be sold for profit and significantly larger fees. During his time at Newcastle, Ashworth had a very different role at a club who were experiencing a new dawn under an exciting change in ownership. Ashworth had the responsibility of overseeing deals which were intended to transform the expectations and standards of Newcastle into that of a top level competitive and ambitious club, with the most notable of those transfers being the signings of Alexander Isak and Sven Botman. It is clear that Dan Ashworth’s ability to adapt to whichever club model he is operating in, and ability to unearth talent emphasises the importance Ashworth will have in Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s attempt to support Ten Hag’s pursuit of returning on-field success for the Red Devils.
Christopher Vivell – New Director of Global Talent
It was revealed earlier this week that Manchester United are set to appoint Christopher Vivell as the new Director of Global Talent on a short term basis to help with the club’s recruitment this summer, although an extended stay has not been ruled out. Vivell has worked at both European Red Bull clubs, along with Hoffenheim and Chelsea. During his time at RB Salzburg, Vivell was labelled as the man who discovered Erling Haaland, after he convinced the Norwegian to join them over many high profile clubs. Furthermore, during his career, Vivell has overseen the recruitment of talent including Benjamin Sesko, Dominik Szoboszlai, and Josko Gvardiol. Vivell will work very closely with Ashworth, a partnership which Ratcliffe hopes will start the road to correcting many years of directionless recruitment and decision making.
Rene Hake- New Assistant Manager
Rene Hake had worked with Ten Hag in the past in the youth system at FC Twente, and since then the pair have remained close friends. Hake managed to get The Go Ahead Eagles to 9th in the Eredivisie last season, their best finish in more than 15 years. However, the fact Hake has left his successful management job to join Erik Ten Hag’s coaching team shows a clear attraction to the project and demonstrates what a key asset Hake will be to the club and its revamp under INEOS.
“The feeling I have is difficult to describe, but this is of course a great opportunity for me. Working in the biggest league in the world, at one of the biggest clubs in the world. It is also a wonderful reward for me. The fact that I can go to the top of the world from Go Ahead Eagles is unique.”
Rene Hake
Ruud van Nistelrooy- New Assistant Manager
Ruud van Nistelrooy is set to become the new assistant manager to Erik Ten Hag, the former Premier League winner will hold legendary status in the mind of many Man Utd supporters across the world and will therefore likely receive an incredibly positive reception upon his return. Nistelrooy had a series of coaching roles before landing the PSV job as head coach. The Dutchman managed to secure a double winning the 2023 Johan Cruyff shield and the KNVB Cup, however, he ended up resigning with 1 match remaining of the 2022/23 campaign (despite finishing second), his explanation being a lack of support. Once again, INEOS have managed to snap up a man who could have certainly secured a job as a first team coach yet instead decided to support Erik Ten Hag in his mission to return the Theatre of Dreams to its former glory.
Jelle Ten Rouwelaar- New Goalkeeping coach
Finally, Manchester United are set to appoint Jelle Ten Rouwelaar as the new Goalkeeping coach who will work alongside Andre Onana, Altay Bayındır, and Tom Heaton. Jelle Ten Rouwelaar is regarded as a modern goalkeeping coach, in his time at Burnley he was a massively important staff member for Vincent Kompany in implementing his desired passing out of the back fluid football which led to Burnley storming through the Championship with 101 points. We are in an era where goalkeepers who are competent with their feet to almost be used as an extra ball playing centre back in the back line are becoming increasingly in demand. This was made evident in Arsenal’s signing of David Raya last summer which initially had quite a controversial reaction. However it seems that whilst Aaron Ramsdale is a perfectly good shot stopper and keeper, Mikel Arteta needed a goalkeeper not only strong in shot stopping but also elite with his feet in order to keep up with modern football and challenge Pep Guardiola for the Premier League title. Therefore the appointment of a modern goalkeeping coach such as Jelle Ten Rouwelaar is a sign from Ratcliffe and Ten Hag of their intent to move Man Utd forwards and make the club competitive in such a fast moving sport.
There is still a lot of work to be done by Sir Jim Ratcliffe to take Manchester United back to the top, however it seems that he is doing everything he can to provide Erik Ten Hag with the backing he needs to produce the best on-field results, a sense of stability and support which many previous Man Utd coaches will feel they completely lacked in their tenure. The changes in leadership and the clear intent to reshuffle a decaying regime from INEOS provides a credible source of hope for many fans of Manchester United across the world.
image credits: BERTRAND GUAY/AFP