THIS is a mid-table squad at an underachieving club, with a lot of unwanted players on big money.

And Ratcliffe is an instinctive cost-cutter who may not pay top dollar to the next manager.

If this club wasn’t called ‘Manchester United’, it wouldn’t be an especially desirable job.

The good news for United is that their new sporting director, Dan Ashworth, is a very decent judge of a manager.

He has been instrumental in three previous managerial appointments — Gareth Southgate for England, Graham Potter for Brighton and Eddie Howe for Newcastle.

None were wildly popular at the time, all were conspicuous successes.

Interestingly, Ashworth’s No 1 choice for the Newcastle job was Unai Emery, who turned him down to stay at Villarreal but has since proved that judgment right by excelling at Aston Villa.

Emery may well deliver the coup de grace to Ten Hag on Sunday — especially with Bruno Fernandes suspended and Kobbie Mainoo an injury doubt.

And the Spaniard would be an excellent fit for United — yet there is next to no chance that he would abandon Villa’s Champions League campaign to take the Old Trafford job, not least because he isn’t a stark raving madman.

Howe would be another good candidate to succeed Ten Hag but, although he has become frustrated on Tyneside, the Saudis would surely not allow Ratcliffe to poach Howe, as they reluctantly did with Ashworth.

Potter is available but his Chelsea experience and lack of charisma would make him a tough sell.

Which brings us to Southgate, who remains close with Ashworth and is an excellent man-manager who was seriously considered by United last spring.

Yet, despite having led England to two of their three major finals, Southgate’s reputation for over-caution was only enhanced during the Euros.

Mauricio Pochettino, passed over twice by United, is out of the equation having taken the United States job.

Thomas Tuchel would be a popular and gettable option but, despite being a fine coach and a very engaging man, he is considered something of a loose cannon.

Likewise, Roberto De Zerbi, now at Marseille after his brief Brighton stint sparkled then fizzled out.

Kieran McKenna — a gifted former United coach who has won back-to-back promotions with Ipswich Town — is an intriguing candidate but the imminent vacancy may come a year or so too soon.

Marco Silva, the extremely under-rated Fulham boss, has been on United’s radar and should not be discounted.

Sporting Lisbon’s Ruben Amorim, last season’s ‘next big thing’, was passed over by West Ham as well as Liverpool this summer and is not an easy man to pin down.

Zinedine Zidane, who has taken over from Alan Curbishley as a 20-1 shot for every Premier League job, is a ‘figurehead’ manager and not an Ashworth type.

Ruud van Nistelrooy, the former United goal machine who joined Ten Hag’s coaching team in the summer is the bookies’ favourite. Simply because he’s in the building and he’s Dutch.

So, yes, getting rid of Ten Hag is the easy part.

Hale was born in Belfast and chose to represent the Republic of Ireland as a younger player, featuring and scoring for both their Under-19 and Under-21 sides.

He scored two goals in five games at the U21s in 2018, but as he bounced around clubs in the League of Ireland and the Irish Premiership and with the likes of Brighton’s Evan Ferguson and Celtic’s Adam Idah on the scene, his chances of winning a senior international cap for the Republic diminished.

Hale continued to go about his business, and he finally found a welcoming home at Irish Premiership side Cliftonville in the summer of 2022.

In his first campaign with the Reds, Hale netted 29 goals in all competitions, and he followed that up with 22 last season, including two in the Irish Cup final against Linfield.

His goal scoring exploits not only made Ross County sit up and take notice, but they also caught O’Neill’s eye as he looks to address a problem position in his squad.

The wheels for a switch of international allegiances were set in motion in August as Hale committed to NI after various conversations with O’Neill.

Yet, as O’Neill explained, it is a slow, “administrative” process that lies ultimately with world football’s governing body Fifa – not the Irish FA [IFA] or the Football Association of Ireland [FAI] – and Hale was “adamant” to switch, hence why the process was started so there is no suggesting he is staying with the Republic.

Hale was quite calm about the matter when asked by BBC Scotland to comment on the situation after his side’s eventual 2-1 defeat by Celtic on Sunday.

“From what I have heard I am still waiting on clearance to come through, but it has let me fully focus on Ross County, I am enjoying my football and scoring goals,” he said.

“International football is massive, when Michael [O’Neill] phoned me and said the chance was there to play international football, it wasn’t an opportunity I was going to let go and hopefully it gets sorted sooner rather than later.”

FORMER Premier League star Neil ‘Razor’ Ruddock has shown off his incredible 11-stone weight transformation.

The 56-year-old began his weight loss journey back in 2021 after meeting TV personality James Argent.

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Ruddock had ballooned to 27st during the Coronavirus pandemic, which put his health at serious risk.

But after meeting Argent – who experienced his own 14st weight loss journey in recent years – he decided to get a gastric sleeve fitted.

The former Liverpool star now eats much less and has reduced his alcohol intake.

In a recent interview, Ruddock opened up about why he started excessively eating and drinking in the first place.

On his 28th birthday, the day before 1996 FA Cup final between Liverpool and Manchester United, the ex-defender found out that manager Roy Evans had dropped him from the squad.

His dad had purchased 50 tickets so that friends and family could watch him at Wembley.

So the realisation that he would not play made Ruddock feel like he had let his nearest and dearest down.

He told The Times: “The greatest thing I’ve ever done in life is making my dad proud of me.

“Roy just said it was the toughest decision he had to make. It was the toughest decision he’s ever had in management.

“You know, I love the man to death, but it wasn’t . . . at the end of the day, I can’t blame him.

“He’s had to make a decision. But I just couldn’t handle it.

“I remember ringing my dad in tears. My dad’s in tears as well. I still might want to cry. I want to cry now. My dad’s no longer here any more.”

On the day of the final, Ruddock sat in the dressing room and began drinking cans of beer while his team-mates battled it out for the FA Cup.

In his new book, Toxic, he explained: “All of a sudden, sport, the thing you have relied on all your life to deliver the good times, is doing exactly the opposite.

“The Cup final was the start of a spiral which never ended. The start of mad, bad, sad, glad syndrome.

“Until that day I had never ever doubted myself. Never. Not once. Now it was all I did. Anxiety bubbled underneath. I was gone — a volcano waiting to erupt.”

Ruddock made 195 Premier League appearances during his career and played for the likes of Liverpool, West Ham, Tottenham, Southampton and Crystal Palace.

GARY Lineker has said “it’s natural to have conversations” as his Match of the Day contract comes to an end next year.

Lineker also revealed who he wants to replace him as the face of BBC Sport’s flagship show.

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He opened up about his MOTD future on this morning’s episode of the Rest is Football podcast.

The star said that he has just started contract talks – and that Alan Shearer and Micah Richards are in a similar boat.

Gary also said Richards was his preferred candidate to replace him in the long run.

He said: “It’s been a strange few days as you know. I’m coming to the end of my contract in the summer.

“So it’s natural you have to have conversations. They’ve just started. I don’t know why it’s all spiralled out of control but all is OK.

“I’m more concerned about my cold. I started not feeling well on my way home. Terrible throat.”

Micah replied: “What’s more concerning is I’m 4-1 to replace you!”

Last night Lineker silenced speculation over his MOTD future by opening the show with a joke.

The former England striker, 63, told BBC viewers on Saturday night: “It’s my last show… before the international break.”

Reports in the last few days have been circulating online saying that yesterday could have been his final appearance.

Lineker is understood to be in talks with BBC executives — and sources have told The Sun on Sunday it was “business as usual”.

An alleged leaked email also appeared to suggest plans were being drawn up at the BBC for his departure.

But the long-running BBC football highlights show opened up with Lineker making a gag about the rumours around his future.

He said: “Hello, seven games on the way and it’s my final show…

“Before the international break.”

The clever joke left pundits Alan Shearer and Micah Richards laughing as Lineker continued on with the show.

An alleged leaked email appeared to suggest plans were being drawn up at the BBC for the former striker’s departure earlier this week.

It was said to have included a draft statement for release when the ex-England ace decides to leave.

The Beeb has refused to call the email a fake and instead said nothing had been agreed.

But the star, 63, is understood to now be in talks with BBC executives over a new Match of the Day deal after sources told The Sun on Sunday it was “business as usual”.

The veteran presenter could agree to stay on for £1million a year — £350,000 less than his current mega salary.

He has hosted the show since 1999 and is now its longest-serving presenter.

It is believed that Lineker will remain on the show until at least the end of the season.

A source told The Sun: “Gary is hugely popular with both fans and players alike.

“The sense is that, with so much uncertainty and scandal at the BBC, right now viewers are crying out for a safe pair of hands.

“Gary adores the BBC, and loves his job, and recognises what an honour it is to host television’s flagship football show, as well as international games.

“Gary has long maintained that the BBC provides excellent value for money – and has quite literally put his money where his mouth is, and offered to take a substantial pay cut.”

Lineker was taken off air last year after his tweet compared the language used to launch a government asylum plan to “that used by Germany in the 30s”.

Pundits Ian Wright and Alan Shearer boycotted MOTD in solidarity.

Ex-Spurs player Jermaine Jenas, 41, had been reportedly in the running to replace Lineker on the show but was sacked for inappropriately texting two women on The One Show.

The bookies are now predicting that either Mark Chapman or Gabby Logan will be the next faces of the late-night football recap show.

MotD2 host Chapman and Sports Personality of the Year host Logan are both 5/2 to pick up the reins, according to William Hill.

Ex-Manchester City defender Micah Richards (4/1) and Lionesses legend Alex Scott (5/1) are also in contention.

Other names in the frame include regular pundits Alan Shearer (14/1) and Danny Murphy (25/1).

Yet not every club feels the same. Tottenham, under Ange Postecoglou, do not have a specialist set-piece coach and, since the beginning of last season, Spurs have conceded more set piece goals (excluding penalties) than every Premier League team, except for Nottingham Forest.

At Chelsea Mauricio Pochettino didn’t have a set-piece coach, believing he did not need one, before the Blues hired Cueva with a new set-piece department being set up at Stamford Bridge.

That particular issue was one of the reasons for Chelsea replacing Pochettino with Enzo Maresca in the summer.

There needs to be buy-in for the position to work, and Austin MacPhee was one of the only staff kept on when Unai Emery replaced Steven Gerrard at Aston Villa two years ago.

Given how hands-on Emery is, it is a seal of approval in itself.

MacPhee – who joined Villa from Midtjylland in 2021 – was also Scotland’s set-piece coach but stepped down last month to spend more time with his ill father.

He has been credited with Villa’s improved set-pieces and last season they became the first team in Europe to score 20 goals from set plays.

Former Northern Ireland boss Ian Baraclough worked with MacPhee for the national side between 2020 and 2021.

He said: “Austin was innovative. I gave him free reign and it was a good relationship. He was very strong in his beliefs on things. Sometimes you may have to pull the reins on it, but the majority of the time you could see things working.

“It’s just whether you’ve got enough time to work on that but I’m not surprised he’s at Aston Villa and doing well. He communicates very well and he’s one of the standouts in the Premier League when it comes to that role.”

Though Baraclough rightly points out set-pieces have not suddenly become important – they have always been worked on, but have become more inventive.

“Now you have something like the draught excluder,” he said.

“That was something we deployed in Bosnia (in 2020). I hadn’t seen it before and Austin came to me and said ‘what about this? I’ve seen this at Atletico Madrid’.

“We were one of the first British sides to use it and the players were thinking ‘what’s all this about?’ You could see them laughing and giggling. It was Paddy McNair we used on the floor, it’s genius really.”

As teams increasingly focus on the fine margins, former Blackburn and England striker Chris Sutton emphasises how focus on set-pieces is nothing new.

He said: “The difference in the past was that managers who wanted to work on them, did so themselves.

“I get how the game has evolved since then with the new technology that is available, but it is like these things and ideas did not exist back in the day, when they definitely did.”