MANCHESTER: Erik ten Hag's sacking by Manchester United has been the biggest decision for club co-owner Jim Ratcliffe since he arrived in February but the fact that the club took so long to pull the trigger could go down as a major misstep in the INEOS era.
The British billionaire's acquisition of a 25 per cent stake in his boyhood club, which included taking charge of their soccer operations, had been hailed as a new dawn amid fan frustration over the team's inability to return to their glory days.
However, it has been anything but, with Ten Hag overseeing a wretched start to this season that has left United languishing 14th in the Premier League and 21st in the Europa League table.
That is despite over 200 million pounds ($259.68 million) spent on new players in the close season – and 600 million since the Dutchman took charge before the 2022-23 campaign.
"I look at INEOS ... did they back themselves into a corner with the way they handled stuff in the summer?" former United defender-turned pundit Rio Ferdinand said in a video clip on X.
"Retrospectively, I think they'll look back and go 'you know we could have handled it differently, handled it better.'"
Ferdinand echoed the feelings of many as the dust around Ten Hag's sacking on Monday settled, questioning how United failed to snap up former Bayern Munich boss Thomas Tuchel last summer.
United reportedly held talks with the German, as well as Roberto De Zerbi, before deciding to retain Ten Hag, and earlier this month the FA appointed Tuchel as England's new boss.
"I think they missed a trick not getting Thomas Tuchel," Jamie Carragher, a former Liverpool player and now pundit, told Sky Sports. "One of the reasons I thought they kept Ten Hag was knowing there was a manager who wanted a break over the summer, recharge his batteries and wasn't sure what they wanted to do.
"I thought that might be Thomas Tuchel, and they were lining him up. Then England come from nowhere to take him.
"I said after the Liverpool game there was no way Ten Hag was going to last beyond the November internationals," he added referring to United's 3-0 home defeat by their arch-rivals.
"It was impossible, that situation. The ownership should have saved themselves a lot of money and made this decision in the summer."
Ten Hag bought himself some time with United's shock FA Cup victory over Manchester City at Wembley.
But the decision to extend his contract after an end-of-season review - led by INEOS head of sport and former British Cycling performance director Dave Brailsford - now means United may have to pay more than 15 million pounds in compensation to the Dutch coach, according to British media reports.
Ratcliffe has been critical of the club's mediocrity under the Glazer family's ownership, saying United's culture needed a recharge. He installed a new football structure, bringing in Chief Executive Omar Berrada from Manchester City and Sporting Director Dan Ashworth from Newcastle United to kick off a backroom shake-up.
Restructuring meant axing 250 jobs, a move even the club's most successful manager Alex Ferguson could not escape as United announced this month that he would step down as a global ambassador after INEOS ended his multi-million pound contract.
The 82-year-old Ferguson, a familiar sight in the Old Trafford director's box since his 2013 retirement.
Many expected Ten Hag's sacking to come a couple of weeks ago when United's executive committee met at INEOS's London office, but media reports said they still wanted to give the manager every chance to right the ship.
"A couple of months ago everyone was saying, 'They've got new people coming on board, they'll have all the answers, more money on recruitment', and United have gone backwards," Sky Sports pundit and former United captain Roy Keane said then.
"I'm not sure I'm seeing proper footballing people who are making the right decisions for the club."
Ratcliffe's INEOS has an underwhelming track record with their other football teams, including a handful of underwhelming player purchases at French club Nice and Swiss team Lausanne.
British media have reported that Ruben Amorim is the front-runner to replace Ten Hag, with the Old Trafford club opening talks with the 39-year-old Sporting manager.
However, Ferdinand cautioned that Ten Hag's replacement could struggle to find immediate success.
"Erik ten Hag recruited a large part of this squad and Ruud van Nistelrooy, as interim manager, has to work with that squad," Ferdinand said on his YouTube channel.
"What are they going to do with this squad? Because this is a bunch of players who have underperformed for numerous managers now.
"Some of these players have been here for one, two, three managers and we've still had the same results, where (the team) hasn't been performing." - Reuters