Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Sir Jim Ratcliffe have already publicly agreed that INEOS’ Manchester United project won’t happen overnight amid mounting pressure on Erik ten Hag. The Dutchman is struggling to shake off speculation about his future amid a below-par start to the first full season under United’s new part-ownership.
INEOS explored potential replacements after an eighth-place Premier League finish last term but decided Ten Hag remained the best candidate to work with the club’s new-look hierarchy.
But while elements of United’s performances have improved in the opening weeks of the new campaign, results haven’t.
The Red Devils have won just three of their opening seven matches in all competitions – against Fulham, Southampton and Barnsley.
Ten Hag has overseen just six victories in the last 19 Premier League fixtures, with top-four hopes looking bleak again this season.
Wednesday’s Europa League draw with FC Twente also leaves United with just one win in their previous nine European outings.
It has sparked revisionism among some sections of the fanbase about Solskjaer’s reign, during which he orchestrated arguably the most entertaining football of the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era.
And the Norwegian – who has been out of management since his 2021 sacking – fuelled talk earlier this week by admitting he would jump at the opportunity to return to Old Trafford.
“If the family [United] asks, I would say yes every day of the week,” Solskjaer revealed at the Oslo Business Forum.
“It feels wrong to talk about jobs that other people have now, but I would say yes, of course.”
But INEOS have privately and publicly backed Ten Hag in recent months, and there is an acceptance that patience is required.
Earlier this year, Ratcliffe told BBC Sport: “The fans are impatient. I knew that, yeah. But it’s a journey.
“Whether they like it or not, they have to be a bit patient. It’s not a light switch. You can’t just turn it around like that. It takes a bit of time. But we will.”
And while he’s interested in having a second bite of the cherry, Solskjaer has agreed with the INEOS boss that instant success can’t be expected.
“I don’t think there’s a magic wand [at United] as in, ‘We’ve changed the owners’,” Solskjaer told The Overlap in March.
“Obviously, they’ve got their ways of working – the Glazers have still got their commercial – who knows how it’s going to be in football with that side of it.”
