Man Utd player told dressing room pundit would ‘eat manager alive’, confirming many fan theories

There is no standout candidate available as things stand, with no one ticking all the boxes that Man Utd fans would ideally want to tick.

It has meant that Erik ten Hag may have been in office longer than his results dictate, but if Don Hutchison is to be believed, United’s board will likely be faced with a new problem in making a potential appointment.

Changing room would ‘eat Thomas Frank alive’

With Tuchel off the market, the focus turned to managers who were already in a job, as the free market for managers does not inspire much confidence.

There is of course Kieran McKenna at Ipswich, but his side, even if outmatched, are struggling in the Premier League and the prospects of making that move mid-season are not good.

Then it’s down to Thomas Frank, who steers Brentford to another excellent season with his trademark brand of combative football.

Thomas Frank has previously been linked to Man Utd and the ties returned once Tuchel was out of the running, but it is not an easy deal to make.

Don Hutchison recently claimed on BBC Live Sport that a Man Utd player had told him that if Frank was appointed the “dressing room would eat him alive”.

Hutchison would tell the player that it’s their problem, and insinuated that the players aren’t doing enough on their own to turn things around.

He said: “I won’t name names, but I said it to a Man United player about two weeks ago, and we were chatting, who do you think, and I said Thomas Frank. And he said to me, he said the locker room was going to eat him alive. And I said, well, that’s your problem. There’s your problem right away.

“If you don’t accept a manager and coach like Thomas Frank, who would you organize, because that’s what you can see as a fan.

“It doesn’t matter if your team loses every week. What you want to see as a fan is your team being organized, which they are not, and which players are competing for the badge. And they are not.”

A remarkable claim

Hutchison is obviously not in a position to name names, but if he is right it confirms many fans’ theories that the players are using the manager as a convenient cover for their own shortcomings.

This wouldn’t be the first time this has happened, as almost every manager before Ten Hag has suffered the same fate.

However, in this case it would be shocking because the current dressing room seems to be aligned with Ten Hag.

The ‘bad apples’ from the squad have been ruthlessly discarded and there currently appear to be no problematic personalities in the Man Utd squad.

Unlike previous managers, there is no conflict when a player plays in public, so the player telling Hutchison that the dressing room will be ‘eaten alive’, Thomas Frank, is a remarkable claim.

It points to a deep-seated problem with the team and their mentality: their first instinct when hearing Frank’s name is so negative.

Perhaps Ineos are on to something if they remain stubborn in their support of Ten Hag.

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