Sir Jim Ratcliffe, co-owner of Manchester United, has admitted that not sacking Erik ten Hag in the summer was a mistake.
In an interview with Sky Sports, Ratcliffe praised the current head coach Rúben Amorim for the “excellent job” he is doing.
After signing an extended contract, Ten Hag was dismissed after just nine matches this season, following the team’s victory in the FA Cup final over Manchester City.
Ratcliffe, along with chief executive Omar Berrada, INEOS director of sport Sir Dave Brailsford, and technical director Jason Wilcox, acknowledged their failure to make the right decision regarding Ten Hag’s future.
Despite the team sitting 14th in the league table, Ratcliffe sees signs of progress under Amorim, who has won just five of his 17 Premier League games in charge.
Liverpool, currently leading the table, is on track to equal their record of 20 league titles.
“It was too early for us to make a big decision in reality,” Ratcliffe explained about their decision-making in the summer.
“We hadn’t been together as a team for very long. It was just a matter of weeks, and it’s quite a big decision, isn’t it? And also, it’s quite difficult. It was quite difficult to extract, in that season when we arrived, Erik’s performance from the structure around him.”
When asked if he now regrets it, Ratcliffe said: “Yeah, it was the wrong decision. We made the wrong decision. It was an error. So yeah, I suppose in that sense, I regret it.
“I think there were some extenuating or mitigating circumstances in having made that decision, but at the end of the day, it was the wrong decision, so hands up, me of course, on that one.”
