"[Manchester] United are going backwards. They are rock bottom right now," former Liverpool and England midfielder Jamie Redknapp told Sky Sports after Tottenham's 3-0 win at Old Trafford on Sunday. "It's embarrassing. A club of this stature shouldn't be producing performances like that."
Redknapp's analysis was almost flawless, save for one key detail. United hit rock bottom nearly a year ago; this was just the latest horror entry in Erik ten Hag's ever-growing Hall of Shame. On October 3, 2023, Galatasaray secured their first Champions League win on English soil to leave the Red Devils bottom of their group with a record of six defeats from 10 games across all competitions at the start of the season.
Most clubs would have sacked Ten Hag at that point, but he's inexplicably held onto his post for another 12 months as United have continued to lurch from one disaster to the next. The INEOS group, who completed a minority takeover at the club in December, did interview potential replacements for Ten Hag after the Red Devils slumped to their worst-ever Premier League finish in May, including ex-Bayern Munich boss Thomas Tuchel, but couldn't agree terms with any of them, which led Sir Jim Ratcliffe to declaring that "the coach isn't the central issue".
Ten Hag was given a new two-year contract he simply did not deserve. And, inevitably, just two months into the 2024-25 campaign, fans and pundits across the country are calling for that agreement to be ripped up. INEOS have to listen this time if they want to stop United's slide; they've become a laughing stock under Ten Hag, and nothing will change until he is put out of his misery.