Manchester United have banned four high-profile journalists ahead of the pre-match press conference for the Chelsea game, according to Daily Mail.
The Red Devils recently suffered their 10th defeat of the campaign against Newcastle United and now find themselves seventh in the Premier League standings.
In the aftermath, there has been speculation of unrest within the squad with reports mentioning that manager Erik ten Hag has lost 50 per cent of the dressing room.
This was reported by Manchester Evening News’ Samuel Luckhurst, The Mirror’s David McDonnell, Rob Dawson of ESPN and Sky Sports chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol.
All four of them and their publications have been banned from today’s press conference with United highlighting that they were not contacted to comment over the matter.
Andrew Ward, United’s communications director, communicated the same to the journalists ahead of this afternoon’s presser from Ten Hag at Carrington Training Ground.
United have made the right decision to back Ten Hag
United are going through their worst start to the season in terms of defeats since 1973 and publications have taken advantage with plenty of negative reports recently.
We are yet to find out the players leaking the stories, but the Red Devils have done the right thing to ban the journalists, who are further worsening the club atmosphere.
The Dutchman is the right man in charge of United despite the difficult start. The players now need to fully support the manager to get back on the right track once more.
The club have a season-defining period ahead. The Mancunian giants host Chelsea at Old Trafford on Wednesday before entertaining Bournemouth over the weekend.
This will be followed by a must-win Champions League home game versus Bayern. They also face Liverpool, West Ham United, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest before the New Year.
Ten Hag will be determined to change the club’s fortunes and the last thing that the Red Devils need during this period is unwanted speculation over the players’ relationship with the manager.
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