Sir Jim Ratcliffe has already explained Erik ten Hag sack decision as Manchester United draw vs Aston Villa

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has already given his verdict on Erik ten Hag's future as Manchester United manager.

The last few weeks have seen Ten Hag's future in the Old Trafford dugout become the subject of intense speculation. United have won just two of their first seven Premier League fixtures this season and have just eight points on the board.

Sunday saw United held to a goalless draw away at Aston Villa, and the Reds have now failed to score in four of their last five Premier League matches. The result followed a 3-3 draw with Porto in the Europa League in midweek and a 3-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur last weekend.

Ratcliffe was in attendance at Villa Park to watch United held to a scoreless draw in the West Midlands, and was joined by CEO Omar Berrada, sporting director Dan Ashworth and technical director Jason Wilcox in the director's box. It was earlier this week that the United co-owner spoke about Ten Hag's future in an interview with the BBC which was conducted in Barcelona.

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"I don’t want to answer that question. I like Erik," Ratcliffe told the BBC when asked if he thinks Ten Hag could be sacked by United.

"I think he’s a very good coach but at the end of the day it’s not my call, it’s the management team that’s running Manchester United that have to decide how we best run the team in many different respects.

"But that team that’s running United has only been together since June or July. They weren’t there in January, February, March or April – Omar [Berrada] and Dan Ashworth, they only arrived in July.

"They’ve only been there, you can count it in weeks almost. They’ve not been there a long time so they need to take stock and make some sensible decisions. Our objective is very clear.

"We want to take Manchester United back to where it should be, and it’s not there yet, obviously. That’s very clear.”

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