Four publications have been banned by Manchester United from attending Erik ten Hag’s press conference this afternoon with the club furious at recent reports suggesting several players had lost confidence in the Dutchman.
Sky Sports’ chief reporter Kaveh Solekhol, the Manchester Evening News’ chief Manchester United correspondent Samuel Luckhurst, Rob Dawson of ESPN as well as Mirror Sport have all been blacklisted.
The 1-0 defeat at Newcastle on Saturday appears to have triggered several leaks from within the club with some players reported to be unhappy at Ten Hag’s training methods as well as questioning the quality of his recent signings, most notably Rasmus Hojlund, Antony and Mason Mount.
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There have also been rumours the players are angry that Ten Hag has claimed they aren’t following instructions during games.
United say they have “taken action against several news organisations 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.
“We believe this is an important principle to defend and we hope it can lead to a re-set in the way we work together.”
It all amounts to a pretty dismal picture with United’s players doing little to quell talk of unrest with their body language in recent games.
Former England captain and BBC pundit Alan Shearer was unimpressed with the visitors’ display at St James’ Park at the weekend.
Shearer, speaking on The Rest is Football podcast, said: “I thought they were a mess, I thought they were terrible. I thought their attitude was awful and it highlighted some of the really bad attitudes they clearly have.
“When it’s tough and when it’s hard, you see the players who want to play for you and you see the players who want to support you as a manager and as a fan. And I thought there were three or four players who were not prepared to roll their sleeves up and gave up far too easily and didn’t want to fight.”
