Erik ten Hag responds to Man Utd’s decision to end Sir Alex Ferguson payments

Erik ten Hag has insisted he expects Sir Alex Ferguson to remain an active part of life at Manchester United despite the termination of his ambassadorial contract.

Since his retirement in 2013, Ferguson had been receiving an annual salary of £2.16m for his role as a club ambassador, but INEOS and new controlling owner Sir Jim Ratcliff.

“Of course it has an impact on us,” Ten Hag said of the redundancies of around 250 non-playing staff. “Sir Alex, of course, is Man Utd, 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 remains under pressure / Michael Regan/GettyImages

Ten Hag went on to confess that United are in a battle to try and match the standards set by Ferguson during his time at the helm.

“At the moment, we can’t mach the standards he set, but still we have won trophies,” Ten Hag stressed. “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.

“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.”