With the long search for their next manager finally over, both Manchester United and Erik ten Hag can now turn their minds towards what needs to be done over the next couple of seasons to get the team back competing at the very top level.
It is a club that is need of a major overhaul, both at playing and boardroom level. The squad needs to be cleared of quite a bit of deadwood, with some high potential players brought in to allow the new coach to thrive as quickly as possible. Whether they will identify the correct targets to do this remains to be seen.
Ten Hag is sure to have his own ideas on what needs to be done, although how much control he will be given over such matters is certainly up for debate. Despite United's lack of success in the transfer market, they have been insistent on not handing over too much control to the manager in the past.
Both Eamon Dunphy and John Giles believe this could ultimately cost their next boss his job in the long run.
Speaking on The Stand, the former RTÉ pundits said that Eirk ten Hag will be set up to fail at Old Trafford unless he is given full control of the incomings and outgoings at the club.
Dunphy: He's done a really good job at Ajax and they've given him a three-year contract. Boy, he is in for a tough job. Bearing in mind what Jamie Carragher said (on Sky Sports) about Declan Rice, for one thing the really top players won't want to go to United at the moment...
Giles: My fear for Manchester United is [behind the scenes]. If a manager is doing his stuff, you don't need a director of football...
What has happened over time that has got Manchester United into the situation they are in, I don't who is behind the scenes but they got (Ole Gunner) Solskjaer in because they knew he wouldn't cause any trouble.
That's why they didn't want (Antonio) Conte in in recent times. They said he didn't suit the players, but they didn't want anybody in that would do what needed to be done.
Dunphy: Ten Hag's first task will be to impose his personality on the club in the decisions that are made about who is leaving and who is coming in.
Giles: It shouldn't be his opinion, it should be his choice. Whoever is making the decisions has to give this guy his choice.
What's the sense in appointing somebody and then getting in a director of football who is in charge of incomings and outgoings? 90 per cent of the job in football is getting rid of the players you don't want and then getting in the players you do want. All managers have a vision of what they want on the field...
Dunphy: I don't think the Glazers will allow any coach the kind of freedom that is required to do the job. It'll take forever and break his heart.
Van Gaal, who has had the experience of managing Manchester United and knows ten Hag, said 'don't go there, it's a not a football club and is a corporation', one that is more concerned with selling shirts and that kind of nonsense. I think that's the truth.
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The new First-Team Manager of Manchester United: Erik ten Hag.#MUFC || #WelcomeErik— Manchester United (@ManUtd) April 21, 2022
The Glazers have spent quite a bit of money on players in recent years, although you could argue that the majority of it has been wasted. The gap between United and the likes of Liverpool and Manchester City only seems to be widening as the seasons go on.
The owners have also failed to upgrade facilities such as the stadium and training ground, all while taking dividends out of the club's coffers each year.
Dunphy has a feeling that they will now sanction the type of investment that will be required to alter Manchester United's current trajectory.
Dunphy: Walking into Manchester United with all the issues around the place is a whole new ballgame (for ten Hag). The other issue is that if you're at United people will give you time, but it'll be months rather than years before people start asking 'what's going on here'. You don't get that kind of time...
Giles: If he gets the right conditions, with the job he has done at Ajax, I don't think it will take another six years (before United are competing at the top). If he doesn't get the conditions, it'll be another three or four years with nothing happening.
Dunphy: I don't think he will get the players he needs, at Manchester United you need A-list players. As Jamie Carragher said, Declan Rice would run a million miles away from that club.
If you don't get the players in that you need to compete with the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool, and Chelsea then I think you've got very little chance...
They've let Old Trafford go into ruin, it's a wreck and they won't even fix it even though there is 80,000 people in there every week. They won't even do that.
Giles: You don't think they'll spend?
Dunphy: I don't think they'll spend what they need to spend.
Manchester United supporters are eagerly anticipating the arrival of Erik ten Hag, something that is completely understandable when you see the job he has done with Ajax in recent years.
However, it is going to take a lot more than just a top coach to turn the club around as things stand.
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