Rumours about Manchester United’s change of manager is not going away. On the contrary. It seems that Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s thoughts of sacking Erik ten Hag at the season are still very on, but his mind is not made up yet. The decision will probably be made at the end of the season, and until then, the new minority owner is drawing up a list of potential candidates to replace him. And one name stood up – Gareth Southgate. The highly regarded England manager has also been working in the past with soon-to-be United’s sporting director Dan Answorth, and it looked like a logical decision.Ratcliffe found a replacement for Ten HagSo, ‘Manchester Evening News’, who first broke out the news that the Red Devils are interested in Southgate, decided to run a pool among their fanbase with a simple question: do they support the idea that the England manager shout become Manchester’s coach? The results were devastating: an overwhelming 93% of the voters said ‘NO’! It sends a clear message to Ratcliffe, and, more importantly, Sir Dave Brailsford and Dan Ashworth, two biggest admirers of Southgate.Maguire wants Southgate to stay as England bossAnd what does the main actor in our story have to say? “I think there are two things from my point of view. One is that I’m the England manager. I’ve got one job, basically, to try and deliver a European Championship. And the second thing is Manchester United have a manager and I think it’s always completely disrespectful when there’s any speculation about a manager that’s in place. I’m president of the LMA (League Managers’ Association) so I don’t have any time for that sort of thing, really. I think I’ve answered this every time I’ve sat with you. My focus is a European Championship. If we did something, a contract, here before everybody would be saying, ‘why are you signing a contract before a Euros where you’ve got to prove yourself?’ I’m certainly not going to speak to anybody else ahead of that. I never have. I’ve been eight years in the job. I wouldn’t entertain speaking to anybody else when I’m in the job” said Southgate ahead of the Brazil friendly. ##NAJAVA_MECA_7975762##
