Manchester United bosses have openly admitted they’re ‘not happy’ with their start to the season, as speculation intensifies about manager Erik ten Hag’s future with the club.

Before the international break last week, United sat 14th in the league, which represented their worst-ever start to a Premier League campaign. 

According to the Mirror, it’s believed club bosses, including Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sir Dave Brailsford, held an intervention to decide on the fate of the manager. 

And while it looks like the Dutchman has a reprieve – boosted by the Red Devils’ 2-1 victory over Brentford at the weekend – senior members of the club’s leadership have been vocally critical of their season so far.

Toby Craig, United’s chief communications officer, told a fan forum last week the club is ‘clearly not happy’ with their start to the 2024-25 campaign. 

United bosses have openly admitted they are ‘not happy’ with the club’s start to the season

Members of the INEOS-backed leadership told a fan forum they are working to change things

Craig, who has previously held senior communications positions at City Group and Chelsea, has pointed towards the vast structural changes happening at the club as a reason for their poor form. 

He said: ‘Clearly we are not happy with the men’s first team’s start to the season and results are not where we want them to be. There is a huge amount of change going on.

‘We believe we came out of the summer transfer window with a stronger squad, but it’s one that is still evolving with a number of younger players who will keep getting better. 

‘So there have been changes on the pitch, but also off the pitch with Dan Ashworth and Jason Wilcox joining the club.

‘They are transforming our sporting structure off the pitch. We know there’s still a lot to do. The women’s first team has started its season well, with a 100 per cent record so far in the WSL.

‘Whilst the main focus of the fans’ forum has always been on fan issues, we will endeavour to keep the forum briefed on football developments and provide access to football leadership from time to time.’

Man United’s chief operating officer Collette Roche added it had been a ‘difficult start to the season for the men’s first team’.

‘But everyone at Carrington is working hard to put things back on track with three-quarters of the season still to go,’ she told the forum.

‘On the women’s side things have started a lot more brightly, with three wins out of three in the WSL so let’s hope we can keep that going.

‘Off the pitch, you’ll know that we have been through a period of restructuring that has seen us say farewell to approximately 250 colleagues.’

Roche pointed out the INEOS-backed operations team have made tough calls now, to clear space for future progression.

‘That has been a difficult process, but we would not have done it if we did not feel it was necessary,’ Roche said.

United were boosted by a 2-1 victory against Brentford on Saturday, which took them to 12th

United’s poor start to the 2024-25 season has put manager Erik ten Hag’s job in jeopardy

‘The truth is that, even though we are generating record revenues which are among the highest in European football, we have still been losing money. 

‘That is not a sustainable situation. So we’ve taken action to identify areas where we can increase efficiency.’

The last time that Manchester United won as few as nine points from their opening seven league games in a season was in 2019-20 under Ole Gunnar Solskjær. 

According to Opta ‘It got even worse for them in their eighth game that campaign, as they were defeated 1-0 at Newcastle United and ended MD 8 in 12th position and 15 points behind leaders Liverpool’.