Inside Erik ten Hag's 'confrontational' INEOS showdown as Man Utd boss tells all
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has lifted the lid on his "confrontational" meeting with club chiefs in Ibiza when they informed him that they wanted him to stay
Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag has opened up about the "confrontational" showdown he had with the club's hierarchy after they decided to keep him as manager.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has taken full control of United's football operations after buying a stake in the club and he, along with INEOS sporting director Sir Dave Brailsford, led a comprehensive end of season review where they strongly considered replacing Ten Hag.
The likes of Thomas Tuchel, Roberto De Zerbi and Mauricio Pochettino were among the potential replacements and Tuchel even met with Ratcliffe in Monaco to discuss his vision for the club, before deciding he needed a break from football.
United ultimately decided to stick with Ten Hag, with club chiefs flying to Ibiza where the Dutchman was on holiday with his family to inform him of their decision. And Ten Hag has now revealed fresh details about that meeting, telling Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad : "They didn't say 'we still want to continue', but: 'we want to continue'.
"The argument they gave was in short: we have looked at everything and compared everything, but we think we already have the best manager in house. Then I said, 'then we have to discuss a number of things about how we will interact with each other and work together'.
"We had a good, honest, but also confrontational conversation about this. As it should be at the top." Ten Hag also revealed that he did not have much communication with INEOS until they visited him in Ibiza.
"Yes, communication broke down," he explained. "But I was just celebrating holidays with my loved ones, and I let things happen. I have no influence on that. Of course that is a strange state of affairs. But it's not like I panicked.
"It's a decision that was out of my hands. I just waited it out. At that moment you just think in two scenarios: either we continue or not. It's that simple and I'm level-headed enough to look at it that way."
Ten Hag also reflected on last season's struggles, with United's eighth-placed finish their lowest in Premier League history. When asked if he came home exhausted every day because United were having a "s*** season", Ten Hag agreed: "That's what it was.
"I'm not allowed to say that, but you are. And that's exactly what it was. If you don't win, everything costs more energy. After the [FA] Cup final I did get my energy back, but the first week after a season you just don't have much resistance.
"Then you're done. This is a job where you make maybe a thousand decisions a day. Every day. And it just keeps going, at a murderous pace. I understand Jurgen Klopp very well, that after nine years at Liverpool he says: now it's over, I don't have the energy anymore. This is a really tough job."
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