Manchester United’s Chief Executive Officer, Omar Berrada, says struggling manager Erik ten Hag has the club’s entire support despite a terrible start to the Premier League season.
United finished ninth in the league last season, their lowest since 1990, but Ten Hag led his team to a surprising FA Cup final victory over Manchester City.
The Dutchman received a one-year contract extension in July, but only after club officials investigated alternatives.
Ten Hag is under further criticism following Sunday’s 3-0 home defeat to Liverpool, United’s second loss in three games this season, which dropped them to 14th place in the table.
Speaking with new sporting director Dan Ashworth soon before kick-off against Liverpool, Berrada stated that it would take more than a couple of disappointing results to break the club’s faith in their manager.
“Do we still believe in Erik? Absolutely,” he said. “We think Erik is the right coach for us and we’re fully backing him.”
Ten Hag’s contract was extended before either Berrada or Ashworth had taken up their positions but both said they were happy with the decision.
Ashworth said: “I’ve really enjoyed working with Erik for the last eight weeks.
“I see my job is to support him in every way I possibly can and whether that’s operationally, whether that’s with recruitment, whether that’s with medical, whether that’s with psychology, whether that’s training ground flow, it’s just to take as much of that off him to allow him to fully focus on the training pitch and the match tactical plan to deliver success for Manchester United.”
Ashworth’s first few weeks in charge were dominated by the transfer window, which saw United sign Matthijs De Ligt, Manuel Ugarte, Joshua Zirkzee, Leny Yoro, and Noussair Mazraoui.
However, the losses of Scott McTominay and Jadon Sancho were equally notable.
After a falling out with Ten Hag early last season, Sancho returned to previous club Borussia Dortmund on loan in January.
The two appeared to have reconciled as Sancho participated in United’s preseason and featured in the Community Shield, but on deadline day, he joined Chelsea on loan with an option to buy.
When asked what had changed, Ashworth stated it was due to the player’s desire to move on.
“We felt we had enough depth in that particular position to be able to cover it, we’ve got four really good wide players — Jadon was a fifth — and it just enabled us to make that decision that if it was good for him and good for us it was something we were willing to consider,” he said.
“He wanted to explore the opportunity at Chelsea, like Scott wanted to explore the opportunity at Napoli, like Aaron (Wan-Bissaka) wanted to explore the opportunity at West Ham. We’re not in a position where we’re kicking players out of the club.”