Gary Neville believes that Manchester United’s decision not to sack Erik ten Hag was the “right” and “sensible” thing to do.
The Red Devils conducted a post-season review to determine whether or not the Dutchman would remain in the job after overseeing the club’s worst finish in the Premier League era, placing eighth in the table.
The 54-year-old was widely expected to be let go ahead of the FA Cup final against Manchester City last month, but guided his team to an upset win to pick up a second trophy in two years at Wembley.
While Neville acknowledges that Ten Hag was left in an awkward situation while Man Utd were speaking to potential replacements, the pundit thinks his former club were ultimately correct in not signing a new manager at a time of major transition behind the scenes.
Gary Neville on Man Utd decision to keep Ten Hag:
“It’s one of those that’s not perfect, waiting two and a half weeks after the end of the season, and quite obviously flirting with other managers in the meantime,” he told Sky Sports News.
“But I believe because he had such a disappointing season in the league, the club were well within their rights to be able to see what was out there in the market.
“But as we all know, the manager market has been quite difficult for a number of top clubs in Europe, and I’m happy they’re maintained that stability into next season.
“I think they’ve come to the right conclusion, but they were within their rights to look at other options.
“The fact Ten Hag knows they looked at other options is not ideal, but he’s got to accept when you finished where they did, there is a chance you could lose your job – so he should be happy, the club should be happy.”
Neville added: “The big thing for me is looking at Man Utd changing owners, sporting director, CEO, technical director and CFO, the five or six major positions, to have some stability in the football side is a sensible thing.
“It allows those people not in the club yet to build the foundations underneath the football side.
“Having to settle in a new manager in at the same time would’ve been more difficult. Any new manager would’ve said they wanted to look at the playing staff, they’d want new players, a transfer budget which Man Utd don’t quite have at the moment because of PSR.
“It’s a sensible thing for the club, and the right thing for Erik ten Hag.”
Ten Hag – Man Utd decided ‘they already had the best manager’
