Manchester United have issued a statement explaining why a number of journalists were banned from an Erik Ten Hag press conference earlier today.
Sky Sports chief reporter Kaveh Solhekhol, the Manchester Evening News’ Samuel Luckhurst, The Mirror’s David McDonnell and Rob Dawson of ESPN were all reported to have been barred from attending the news conference.
A statement from Man United read: “We are taking action against a number of news organisations today. Not for publishing stories we don’t like, but for doing so without contacting us first to give us the opportunity to comment, challenge or contextualise.”
United did not specify how long the ban may last.
The stories the club are referring may be reports that were published by a number of outlets that claimed Ten Hag had lost ‘more than 50 per cent’ of the Old Trafford dressing room.
The reports included player complaints over Ten Hag’s style of play, being trained too hard, and questioning his man-management.
Ten Hag was unsurprisingly asked about the reports of disunity by journalists who had been admitted to the press conference.
“I always listen to my players and I always give them opportunities to tell, if the players have a different opinion of course I will listen,” he said.
“But they haven’t told me – or maybe one or two. But it is about in general: the majority, they want to play like this – proactive, dynamic, brave, that is what they want. You can see the players are behind it because of the performances against Everton and Galatasaray.”
Ten Hag added that in terms of disorder at the club it was a case of: “Not in the dressing room.”
He continued: “Of course there are a lot of rumours about strategic review [but] we are on a journey, a route, we know we are still in transition but we are in the right direction, you see it how we construct a team, develop it, the team is progressing, how young players [are] coming in and you see the potential how they can contribute to a very successful Manchester United for the future.”
United currently sit seventh in the Premier League following a 1-0 defeat to Newcastle on Saturday. They are also are currently bottom of their Champions League group heading into the final round of games, which leaves them needing to beat Bayern Munich and hope Copenhagen and Galatasaray draw in order to progress to the knock-out stages.
