Sir Jim Ratcliffe meets Erik ten Hag and underperforming Man United players for the first time – Man United News And Transfer News

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Manchester United had a disastrous ending to 2023, losing five games in December, and are currently lying a lowly eighth in the Premier League table.

Under manager Erik ten Hag’s tutelage, the Red Devils have lost 14 games so far this season while exiting both the Champions League and Carabao Cup.

United conceded the second-most goals in Europe en route to their humiliating exit and have let in three or more goals nine times thus far, with five of them coming at Old Trafford.

United’s woeful season so far

Things have been equally woeful up front, with only newly-promoted Sheffield United and Burnley scoring less than United 20 games into the season.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s entry as a minority stakeholder could not have come at a more challenging time with the Glazers bleeding the club dry and letting the infrastructure and the entire first team to rot.

The British billionaire is aware of the massive challenges that await him and INEOS are currently undertaking an internal audit of the club to better understand how to approach this herculean task.

Ratcliffe was at Carrington today to meet Ten Hag and the players for the first time since his £1.3bn investment was announced. Also spoke to staff at the training ground, as well as having two more hours of meetings at OT #mufc https://t.co/HzEOB9keOf

— Chris Wheeler (@ChrisWheelerDM) January 3, 2024

Unlike the American family, the INEOS chairman wants to take a more hands-on approach and was already spotted at Old Trafford as he undertook a visit of the club’s facilities.

Now as per ESPN and The Daily Mail, the boyhood United fan spent some time meeting the players and the staff while also holding other separate meetings.

“Ratcliffe was at Carrington today to meet Ten Hag and the players for the first time since his £1.3bn investment was announced.

Ratcliffe meets players and EtH

“Also spoke to staff at the training ground, as well as having two more hours of meetings at OT,” Chris Wheeler wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

INEOS plan to weed out the non-performing players in due course but for now, Ratcliffe must have implored his players to try and give it their all to salvage what has been a disastrous season.

Ideally, Ratcliffe’s first full season in charge of the club’s sporting structure will see them play in Europe and for that to happen, the players need to pull together and support the manager.

Ten Hag’s future is also not safe but injuries have hampered the season and with players slowly returning to fitness, results might pick up or he might not be there in the hot-seat for much longer.