Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has revealed that INEOS are creating a solid foundation for sustained success by inspiring a high level of positivity and togetherness within the club, Soccernet.football reports.
INEOS’ acquisition of a 25 percent stake at United coincided with a period when Ten Hag’s men experienced difficulties on the pitch as a result of incessant injuries to key players with the Red Devils recording their worst-ever Premier League finish last season.
Those turn of events put the Dutchman’s future at the club up in the air despite an impressive FA Cup final win over Manchester City as INEOS held talks with potential replacements before eventually deciding to stick with the former Ajax manager.
In an exclusive interview with Sky Sports News, Ten Hag opened up on what it’s been like, working with INEOS and the new footballing hierarchy at Old Trafford.
“They know and they’re so experienced in different groups, in different sport, arts and in business. And then they know when you are not together, you don’t achieve the success you want to.
“And we are highly ambitious, so we need to be unified and in that unity we have to fight together because we have to be the example for our players and for the team.
“What we’ve seen is a lot of changes from Manchester United in various approaches. And one of them is recruitment. It seems to be more aggressive, more proactive, but also more in keeping with the profile of player that can actually execute your vision on the pitch.
“So you have to be there aligned and that we want to be proactive and we want to attract players who can execute our game model. And so yeah, from profiling we get the right players and that’s a daily process. It’s a continued process as well in the window, but also in between the windows. But yeah, that is an area that has to grow.”
Quizzed on the apparently supportive relationship between himself and the new football hierarchy and their mode of communication, Ten Hag said; “Yeah, it’s true. And we just started and it had to get really to come together. But we have a good start. We already have a good foundation and we work very hard in togetherness and that is a foundation to get the success.
“That [communication] happens in different structures. Sometimes informal, some formal. We are in the way; we have meals, always together communicating very strongly with each other so that everyone knows where we are. We create a vision about our club and about our team.
The 54-year-old also stressed that he would like to see United’s performance in last season’s FA Cup final become the norm in the coming season.
“We had very high highs and very low lows. It’s a challenge to avoid this, to be more consistent, but this team is capable to play really on a high level.
“Now we need the culture, we need the mentality, and to do that on a consistent basis. And so week by week, every day, actually.
“This is only possible when the player has this attitude, when this should be the norm, when this is the standard. And I think they were on that day, they grow above that level, but now we know we can be on that level as individuals and as a team.
“Now we have to achieve this more, [be] more consistent. There you have to work for it, but it starts with the right mentality on a daily basis.”