January
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8 Jan, Wigan (a), FA Cup, 2-0 win; 14 Jan, Tottenham (h) 2-2 draw; 28 Jan, Newport County (a), FA Cup, 4-2 win
A slow start to the new year, though the bright and shiny new ownership regime of Sir Jim Ratcliffe is quick to make waves, the man himself gatecrashing the press room before the Tottenham game to say: “I have done a few exciting things, but this caps it all.” Ratcliffe the thrill-seeker may have felt a few jolts as League Two Newport County mount a near-comeback in the FA Cup, only for United to escape south Wales after late goals. Jadon Sancho, a £73m transfer bust, heads back to Borussia Dortmund on loan, while Marcus Rashford is disciplined for missing training after nightclubbing in Belfast. “Marcus has taken responsibility for his actions,” says a club statement. With key Ratcliffe adviser Sir Dave Brailsford mounting “a review of transfer strategy”, no new players come in.
February
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1 Feb, Wolves (a), 4-3 win; 4 Feb, West Ham (h), 3-0 win; 11 Feb, Aston Villa (a), 2-1 win; 18 Feb, Luton (a) 2-1 win; 24 Feb, Fulham (h), 2-1 defeat; 28 Feb, Nottingham Forest (a), FA Cup, 1-0 win
In a dramatic win at Wolves, Kobbie Mainoo, a young midfielder back from injury, grabs the headlines. Lisandro Martínez’s knee injury against West Ham stretches resources and Erik ten Hag is forced to deny that keeping his former Ajax lieutenant on the field aggravated the problem. Meanwhile, as Ratcliffe’s deal is ratified on 20 February, moves to entice Dan Ashworth’s sporting director mastery from Newcastle are made, and Jason Wilcox, a former Manchester City employee, is to join as technical director from Southampton. “We are back in the race, but not in the position we want to be at this club,” says Ten Hag after five wins in seven. United duly lose at home to Fulham the next week.
March
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3 Mar, Manchester City (a), 3-1 defeat; 9 Mar, Everton (h), 2-0 win; 17 Mar, Liverpool (h) FA Cup, 4-3 win (aet); 30 Mar, Brentford (a), 1-1 draw
Losing 3-1 in the Manchester derby further dims talk of title challenges. Still, Ten Hag denies there is a gulf in class to Pep Guardiola’s multi-champions. “No, I don’t think so, absolutely not,” he says. Salvation lies in the FA Cup, where Amad Diallo, signed in 2021, belatedly announces himself with a superb winner of an all-time classic quarter-final defeat of Liverpool. Meanwhile, Ratcliffe says his Manchester United won’t be following the galáctico transfer model. “The solution isn’t spending a lot of money on a couple of great players,” he says. He is more focused on a new stadium, and getting someone else to pay for it. “If you built a completely new ground it would absolutely be state-of-the-art, world class, 90,000 [capacity] or maybe even 100,000.”
April
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4 Apr, Chelsea (a), 4-3 defeat; 7 Apr, Liverpool (h), 2-2 draw; 13 Apr, Bournemouth (a) 2-2 draw; 21 Apr, Coventry, FA Cup, 3-3 (aet; win 4-2 on pens); 24 Apr, Sheffield United (h) 4-2 win; 27 Apr, Burnley (h), 1-1 draw
United will be in the FA Cup final but their defeat of the Championship side Coventry is nothing like a moral victory after Victor Torp’s “winner” is chalked off by the video assistant referee for offside. “There was a lack of discipline … today we got away with it,” says Ten Hag as the 1990 United hero Mark Robins, his team far superior, is denied. Ten Hag’s team begin to slip again, losing a ludicrous game to Chelsea with two goals scored past the 100-minute mark by the boyhood United fan Cole Palmer. United’s walk-on role in the title race is to hold Liverpool to a 2-2 draw that all but ends hopes of Jürgen Klopp’s send-off ending with the title, despite his team having 28 shots on André Onana’s goal.
May
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6 May, Crystal Palace (a), 4-0 defeat; 12 May, Arsenal (h), 1-0 defeat; 15 May, Newcastle (h) 3-2 win; 19 May, Brighton (a) 2-0 win; 25 May, Manchester City, FA Cup final, 2-1 win
With Champions League qualification a long-surrendered possibility, it all comes down to the FA Cup final. The wide expectation is City will complete the Double and Ten Hag will be sacked. The opposite happens as United outplay City at Wembley, Alejandro Garnacho and Mainoo, two teenagers, score the goals. Ten Hag, not universally unpopular among fans despite everything, survives for now, his striker-less tactics delivering his best moment in English football. Ratcliffe, meanwhile, bans United staff from working from home, telling them to seek “alternative employment” if they are not willing to come to club premises. A snag: there is not enough space in Manchester or the club’s London premises to accommodate them all.
June
Ten Hag’s future is still undecided. Names such as Thomas Tuchel are aired as possible replacements. On 11 June, it is announced Ten Hag will remain in his position, Ratcliffe having ended his review of the season by concluding that the incumbent should continue on. The news comes as a particular surprise to Ten Hag himself. “The club management came to me while I was on holiday in Ibiza,” he says in a Dutch TV appearance. “They suddenly showed up on my doorstep and told me they wanted to continue with me.”
July
Transfer dealings commence, with Mason Greenwood sold to Marseille for £26.7m. The arrival of Joshua Zirkzee, a forward from Bologna, starts the incomings, and the capture of the teenager defender Leny Yoro from Lille for £52m beats Real Madrid to the punch. “Two high‑potential assets for the future,” says Ten Hag. Yoro is almost immediately sidelined for three months with a broken foot in a US tour friendly against Arsenal. Rasmus Højlund will also miss the start of the season with a new hamstring problem. On the US tour, the former striker Ruud van Nistelrooy takes the eye as the new assistant manager. Back home, Ratcliffe cuts 250 jobs at United, causing shock and tears from some employees, saving the club about £10m a year.
August
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16 Aug, Fulham (h), 1-0 win; 24 Aug, Brighton (a), 2-1 defeat
On-field recruiting continues apace, with £60m spent on the Bayern defenders Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui on the eve of the big kick-off. “We have to be more consistent and we want to win every competition in which we are taking part, definitely also the Premier League,” says Ten Hag. His team get off to a moribund start, though do beat Fulham with a late goal from Zirkzee. When Brighton snatch a late win the following weekend, the doubts revive. Meanwhile, the popular Scott McTominay, so often Ten Hag’s saviour, is shipped to Napoli while Manuel Ugarte comes in from Paris Saint-Germain. Ashworth, now in situ after testy negotiations with Newcastle and a period gardening leave, says: “Signing Manuel was another of our primary targets for this summer.”
September
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1 Sep, Liverpool (h), 3-0 defeat; 14 Sep, Southampton (a), 3-0 win; 17 Sep, Barnsley (h), Carabao Cup, 7-0 win; 21 Sep, Crystal Palace (a), 0-0 draw; 25 Sep, Twente (h), Europa League, 1-1 draw; 29 Sep, Tottenham (h), 3-0 defeat
Ten Hag’s tailspin continues as results flatline. Ugarte is almost immediately dropped and Ratcliffe’s suits feel the need to come out to bat for him. “Do we still believe in Erik?” says the chief executive, Omar Berrada. “Absolutely. We think Erik is the right coach for us and we’re fully backing him.” Marcus Rashford scores his first goal in 189 days as Southampton are beaten but a punchless loss at Tottenham is a nadir. Ten Hag is asked directly about being sacked. “I am not thinking about this,” he says. “We all made in the summer the decision to stay together, as an ownership, a leadership group.”
October
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3 Oct, Porto (a), Europa League, 3-3 draw; 6 Oct, Aston Villa (a), 0-0 draw; 19 Oct, Brentford (h), 2-1 win; 24 Oct, Fenerbahce (a), Europa League, 1-1 draw; 27 October, West Ham (a), 2-1 defeat; 30 Oct, Leicester (h), Carabao Cup, 5-2 win
Ratcliffe, overseeing his Ineos boat’s failed assault on the America’s Cup, stirs the pot by saying: “I like Erik, I think he’s a very good coach but at the end of the day it’s not my call.” The end comes with a stroke of misfortune. Should West Ham have been awarded the penalty Jarrod Bowen struck home? Very possibly not. Would it have made a difference? Very possibly not. “Unfair and unjust,” says Ten Hag of the penalty decision but by Monday lunchtime on 28 October he is a former United manager, the victim of his team’s lack of direction. “We are grateful to Erik for everything he has done during his time with us and wish him well for the future,” says a club statement. Another victim of Ratcliffe’s trusty axe: Sir Alex Ferguson, relieved of his £2m-per-year ambassador’s role.
November
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3 Nov, Chelsea (h), 1-1 draw; 7 Nov, Paok (h), Europa League, 2-0 win; 10 Nov, Leicester (h), 3-0 win; 24 Nov, Ipswich (a) 1-1 draw; 28 Nov, Bodø/Glimt (h), Europa League, 3-2 win
Van Nistelrooy takes on the caretaker role many had predicted would be his and ends his stint unbeaten, a nostalgia trip into happier days. Meanwhile, Ruben Amorim, 39, the youngest manager since Matt Busby in 1945, is tempted from Sporting. He reveals he originally wanted to take over at Old Trafford at the end of the season. Instead, 11 November will be his arrival date. When it comes, Van Nistelrooy is immediately shown the door and lands the Leicester job. Amorim’s tenure begins with a second-minute Rashford goal at Ipswich but there the engine sputters, the 3-4-3 formation unfamiliar to his new players. “We risk a little bit, we suffer a little bit and in the next year we will be better,” he says.
December
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1 Dec, Everton (h), 4-0 win; 4 Dec, Arsenal (a), 2-0 defeat; 7 Dec, Nottingham Forest (h), 3-2 defeat; 12 Dec, Viktoria Plzen (a), Europa League, 2-1 win; 15 Dec, Manchester City (a), 2-1 win; 19 Dec, Tottenham (a), Carabao Cup, 4-3 defeat; 22 Dec, Bournemouth (h), 3-0 defeat; 26 December, Wolves (a), 2-0 defeat; 30 Dec, Newcastle (h), 2-0 defeat
Perhaps the darkest hour comes before the dawn but the new manager bounce becomes a thud of reality, as six games are lost in December, the worst run since 1930, a season United were relegated. The spectre of the drop begins to be voiced by Amorim as the year concludes with Newcastle’s 2-0 win at Old Trafford. “Our club needs a shock and we have to understand that,” Amorim says. “It is also why I speak of relegation.” The only ray of light comes from Diallo almost single-handedly snatching a derby win at City, Guardiola’s ailing team perhaps the only side as traumatised as United. Meanwhile, as United hike tickets up to £66, Ratcliffe says: “I don’t think it makes sense for a Manchester United ticket to cost less than a ticket to see Fulham.” It is also claimed he has cut £40,000 annual funding to the Association of Former Manchester United Players. Visitors to Old Trafford must contend with another infestation: mouse droppings found in a food kiosk at a ground-level corporate suite. Ashworth, meanwhile, is gone by 6 December. “We would like to thank Dan for his work and support during a transitional period,” reads the club statement. Ashworth is reported to have felt he was undermined by the ownership and excluded from what he saw as key processes, including the arrival of Amorim.
Source: theguardian.com