Man Utd communications chief acknowledges board's dissatisfaction with season start

Despite a five-game winless streak, Ten Hag survived the international break and pointed fingers at the media for spreading false rumors about his possible sacking. He defended himself by stating that the board fully supports him and dismissed the reports as "fairy tales" and "lies".

"The noise is only coming from the media, from you guys,” he said. “From some of you, not all of you, but some of you. Bringing up stories, creating stories, creating fairy tales, making noise, bringing lies. Because I know we are all on one page in this club. I told this before the break, I told several journalists, they didn't believe me. I see the reports, but internal in the club it's quiet.” 

Craig opened up about the club’s difficult start at a recent fans' forum. 

He said, "Clearly we are not happy with the men’s first team’s start to the season and results are not where we want them to be. There is a huge amount of change going on. 

"We believe we came out of the summer transfer window with a stronger squad, but it’s one that is still evolving with a number of younger players who will keep getting better. 

"So, there have been changes on the pitch, but also off the pitch with (sporting director) Dan Ashworth and (technical director) Jason Wilcox joining the club. They are transforming our sporting structure off the pitch. 

"Whilst the main focus of the fans’ forum has always been on fan issues, we will endeavour to keep the forum briefed on football developments and provide access to football leadership from time to time." 

Roche also acknowledged that the process of turning the club around will take time and that there is a long way to go before United are back fighting for the title. 

"We have to acknowledge up front that this is not always an easy or straightforward process. On the pitch, you will all be well aware that it has been a difficult start to the season for the men’s first team. 

"But everyone at Carrington is working hard to put things back on track with three-quarters of the season still to go."