Sir Jim Ratcliffe holds hands up to Erik ten Hag error | OneFootball

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has admitted Manchester United made a mistake by extending Erik ten Hag's contract in the summer.

The Dutchman was rewarded with a new deal after leading United to a 2-1 win over neighbourhood rivals Manchester City in last season's FA Cup final, even though the club had just recorded their worst-ever Premier League finish of eighth.

United earned passage into the Europa League as a result but wouldn't have been playing continental football had they not won the cup.

There was hesitation over whether or not to extend Ten Hag's contract but after weeks and weeks of speculation, Ratcliffe and his newly installed hierarchy opted to hand him a new deal. Three months later, United had to walk that decision back as they sacked Ten Hag following a disappointing start to the season.

"I agree the Erik ten Hag and Dan Ashworth decisions were errors. I think there were some mitigating circumstances, but ultimately they were errors. I accept that and I apologise for that," Ratcliffe admitted to BBC Sport.

"If you look at the time we made the decision about Erik the management team hadn't been in place more than five minutes. It became clearer three months later and we got it wrong, but we'd moved on. I think we corrected it and we are in a very different place today.

"It was too early for us to make a big decision in reality," Ratcliffe elaborated in time spent with Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville. "It was quite difficult to extract Erik's performance from the structure around him. Was the erratic performance a function of Erik, or was it a function of the organisation?

Dan Ashworth lasted just five months at Old Trafford / Dan Mullan/GettyImages

"And we couldn't really get to the bottom of answering that question with certainty, I suppose, so we gave Erik the benefit of the doubt."

Ratcliffe also revealed Ten Hag's role in signing new players for United, suggesting that some of the club's Dutch contingent were only brought in because of his influence.

"We had the problem with the coach, is it a yes or a no? So are we involving the coach or not involving the coach? We did," Ratcliffe said.

"He was involved in the discussion, so he influenced... I mean, a decision on a new player or a purchase isn't a decision of one person normally, is it? It's a group of people who influence that decision one way or another.

"So yeah, he did have a voice, which is why there were one or two Dutch players."

Ratcliffe's wide-ranging interview also saw him admit that a number of United's players are "not good enough" and "overpaid" – struggling forward Rasmus Hojlund among those to be namechecked by the INEOS chief.