What Man Utd have said about Erik ten Hag with outcome of showdown talks set

Manchester United are set to inform Erik ten Hag of the outcome after discussing his future among the club's hierarchy on Tuesday. United's higher powers, including Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Joel Glazer, have met in London to hold talks about various club matters, including a dismal start to the season.

Ten Hag needed to oversee a vast improvement after guiding the club to their worst-ever Premier League finish last term, ending in eighth.

But United are dwelling in the darkness of 14th after seven matches, having won just two games and scored five times, a goal tally only superior to Southampton.

Three of those five goals came against Southampton at St Marys, with the Red Devils failing to find the net in four of their last five outings.

A failure to win either of their opening two Europa League fixtures has intensified the scrutiny of Ten Hag's position. It would not be a surprise if he didn't make it to Brentford on October 19.

However, the Dutchman has put on a calm, defiant public front. He is confident he has the backing of United's new football leadership team based on private conversations.

And within the last five weeks, the three main names in the club's sporting structure have all sung to the same tune.

Just last week, Ratcliffe hailed Ten Hag's coaching ability, albeit while shifting the responsibility onto United's chief executive Omar Berrada and sporting director Dan Ashworth.

"I don't want to answer that question. I like Erik. I think he's a very good coach but at the end of the day it's not my call," Ratcliffe told BBC Sport in Barcelona.

"It's the management team that's running Manchester United that has to decide how we best run the team in many different respects."

Both Berrada and Ashworth have also spoken publicly on the matter, though. At the start of September, they reaffirmed their backing of Ten Hag.

Berrada said: "So, in terms of the contract, that was a decision that was taken prior to both of our arrivals. But as I said before, we're very happy with that decision.

"Erik has our full backing and we have worked very closely together in this transfer window.

"We're going to continue working very closely with him to help him get the best results out of the team. We think Erik is the right coach for us and we're fully backing him.

"I'm very excited and very optimistic at what we have in front of us. I think we're starting to put the right pieces in place and I'm absolutely convinced that we're going to be successful."

Ashworth added: "I didn't start until July 1, so none [involvement in the contract decision] whatsoever.

"All I can do is reiterate what I remember saying: I've really enjoyed working with Erik for the last eight weeks. I see my job is to support him in every way I possibly can.

"Whether that's operationally, whether that's with recruitment, whether that's with medical, whether that's with psychology, whether that's training ground flow.

"It's just to take as much of that off him to allow him to fully focus on the training pitch and the match tactical plan to deliver success for Manchester United."

Berrada and Ashworth's comments were released before United's 3-0 home defeat to Liverpool on September 1.

Since then, Ten Hag coached back-to-back wins against Southampton and Barnsley but is now on a five-match winless run. That could very well have changed the perspective in the boardroom.