Sir Jim Ratcliffe's reaction says it all as Man Utd chiefs prepare for Erik ten Hag decision

Sir Jim Ratcliffe was giving nothing away following Manchester United 's goalless draw with Aston Villa as Erik ten Hag 's fate continues to hang in the balance.

Scrutiny on the beleaguered Dutchman had grown significantly ahead of Sunday's seismic showdown between United and Villa. The match eventually ended 0-0 to potentially hand Ten Hag some much needed respite.

Ratcliffe was in attendance at Villa Park alongside his right-hand man, Sir Dave Brailsford, the club's new sporting director, Dan Ashworth, and chief executive, Omar Berrada. But the Ineos chief made a swift getaway after the final whistle.

While Ratcliffe was quick to depart, Ashworth and Berrada were seen sharing a brief word, per BBC Sport. United's top brass have a board meeting scheduled on Tuesday where Ten Hag's position is expected to be discussed.

Intriguingly, Ratcliffe refused to be drawn on Ten Hag's future when he was asked if he had faith in the former Ajax chief on Friday, insisting that his fate would be decided by the club's new senior leadership team.

He told BBC Sport: “I don’t want to answer that question...I like Erik. I think he’s a very good coach but at the end of the day it’s not my call, it’s the management team that’s running Manchester United that have to decide how we best run the team in many different respects.

“But that team that’s running Manchester United has only been together since June or July. They weren’t there in January, February, March or April – [CEO] Omar [Berrada], [Sporting Director] Dan Ashworth - they only arrived in July.

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Scrutiny has grown on Erik ten Hag in recent weeks
(Image: Michael Regan)

“They’ve only been there…you can count it in weeks almost - they’ve not been there a long time so they need to take stock and make some sensible decisions. Our objective is very clear - we want to take Manchester United back to where it should be, and it’s not there yet, obviously - that’s very clear.”

Ten Hag took the opportunity to stress that he and the club's hierarchy are all on the same page after the Villa match, telling Sky Sports: “We always speak, every week we speak. We are all on board together, on one page, we know what we are working through it's a long-term process.

“We have come through two very tough away games. This is a team, we showed the belief and faith we have.”

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