Erik ten Hag believes Sir Alex Ferguson will always be available for advice despite Manchester United removing him from the wage bill.
The Athletic this week reported Sir Jim Ratcliffe had informed Ferguson his annual salary of approximately £2million needed to be cut as part of the INEOS streamlining operation.
Ferguson had been retained by the Glazers as an ambassador since his retirement as manager in 2013, following 26 glittering years at the club, but Ratcliffe is looking for extensive savings on costs.
Even with Ferguson’s relationship ended in an official sense, Ten Hag thinks United can still tap into his expertise.
“Of course it has an impact on us,” said Ten Hag about the redundancies affecting around 250 ordinary staff. “Sir Alex, of course, is Man United, he built United to where the club it is now, and it impacts us.
“But on the other side, we know and Sir Alex knows, that is what he wants.
“He wants to see a winning Manchester United and I’m sure he’s always available for every advice and we will need him, definitely, in the short-term, as we did in the last two-and-a-half years I am here.”
Ten Hag added: “Now and then we have a good contact. I would say, once in half a year I meet formally with him, but also of course, informally, around games, I meet him.”
United are a long way from the glory years Ferguson oversaw, sitting 14th in the Premier League. Ferguson won 13 titles and never finished below third in the Premier League.
Asked how Ferguson’s achievements impact the expectations on the modern United, Ten Hag referenced his League Cup and FA Cup triumphs.
“At the moment, we can’t mach the standards he set, but still we have won trophies,” he said. “Remember, six years before, this club didn’t win trophies, so we are coming back, we are returning, but obviously we are not there, but what’s very important is that we need all the processes right and that we can construct a team that we can line up the best players.”
He added: “I don’t think in terms of how many years you need, I want to win every game and I want to make every season a success, with trophies and with titles.
“I think about this and how I have to win every game and we, as a team, have to match the standards to win every game and then you get there, to where you have to be. Those are the expectations that Sir Alex set for this club.
“One thing for sure is that there’s almost no club in the world where expectations are as high as at Man Utd and that is set from the era of Sir Alex and the rest of us who come after have to deal with this.
“But that’s nice, that’s why you want to be here. It’s a big challenge, but it also demands the highest standards in every process and obviously we are not there in every process. We didn’t get, so far, to challenge for the Premier League or Champions League titles, but that’s the ambition, of course, and that’s what the expectations are, but still we managed to win some trophies.“
(Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images)
