LONDON – Manchester United fans have urged any prospective new owner to back manager Erik ten Hag as the team prepare for a pivotal week against the unsettling background of takeover talk.
United have a chance to end their six-year trophy drought in Sunday’s English League Cup final against Newcastle, three days after they go head to head with Barcelona in a Europa League play-off.
Ten Hag has transformed United’s fortunes in his first few months at Old Trafford after a rocky start, even lifting them to the fringes of the English Premier League title race.
Off the pitch, the race to become the new owner of the Red Devils is hotting up.
Jassim bin Hamad bin Jaber Al Thani, the chairman of Qatar Islamic Bank and son of the country’s former prime minister, and British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, founder of chemicals company Ineos, showed their hands before last Friday’s “soft deadline”.
The Times reported at the weekend that American hedge fund giant Elliott had also entered the battle, ruling itself out of a full takeover but offering to provide financing as a form of investment.
The Manchester United Supporters’ Trust (Must) said on Sunday that whoever buys the club must “explicitly commit to backing Erik and his plans to restore United to glory” after 18 years under unpopular American owners the Glazers.
United have not won the Premier League for a decade and have failed to even qualify for the Champions League on a number of occasions.
“Everyone can see the progress the team is making under Erik ten Hag,” Must said.
“After the frustrations of the last decade, it is clear that enormous strides are being taken.”
Those sentiments were backed by former United captain Gary Neville, who said ten Hag was “overperforming and out-achieving anything that I could imagine at this moment”.
“This manager, this coach deserves his period of time,” he said, on the Gary Neville Podcast.
“This coach needs supporting for a couple of years, at least, off the back of this one. Three years, it looks like to me, is the minimum time I would give Erik ten Hag because of what he’s done already. He looks like the real deal.”
The former England international also said his own straw poll found that majority of supporters, desperate for a debt-free club, were in favour of the Qatari bid.
Neville believes the “horse has already bolted” on the issue of state ownership of clubs following Abu Dhabi’s investment at Manchester City and the Saudi Arabia-led takeover of Newcastle, therefore United should be allowed to have Qatari owners as well.
But Must stressed in its statement “the importance that any owner respects the rights of all people”, particularly women and the LGBTQ community, amid concerns over human rights in Qatar and Saudi.
The organisation, which has not publicly backed Qatar or Ratcliffe, also said that any bids should not be “based on high levels of debt” – seemingly referring to how Ratcliffe has an arrangement with banks JPMorgan Chase & Co and Goldman Sachs to provide debt financing to buy the club.
United’s resurgence under ten Hag has lifted them to third in the Premier League, five points behind leaders Arsenal. The Red Devils will go into Thursday’s second leg of their play-off against Barcelona level at 2-2, with the winners securing a place in the last 16 of the Europa League.
United will then turn their attention to Wembley, with Newcastle standing in their way as they seek to win a first trophy since 2017.
Ten Hag said after a 3-0 Premier League win over Leicester City on Sunday that he was trying to ignore off-pitch distractions.
“I thank the fans when they have that trust in me,” he said, referring to the Must statement.
“I feel committed with this club and I love to be here. But, yeah, it’s (the sale of the club) not in my influence. What I can influence is the performance of this team and I will give everything to perform as good as possible.” AFP
