I think fans are onside with the manager on this one, he has to go
I’m in the small minority of fans that is fully behind Sancho on this one, and I would like to explain why.
Sancho should be treated with more compassion and understanding. He joined United with pre-existing mental health issues given the miss in the Euro penalty shoot-out and the abuse that followed. He then had to deal with the instability of the first season.
I do not know what he was suffering in his personal life in his second season, but it was clear his confidence was on the floor as he was no longer taking on his man. Ten Hag sent him to Holland but then revealed to the media that this was due to mental health problems, which should be considered a breach of trust. Sancho also deactivated his social media accounts during this period of time which is an indication that he is sensitive to the abuse and criticisms he has faced.
At the start of 2023, Sancho showed Ten Hag a lot of love to the extent of changing his profile picture to one of the manager and himself across various social media platforms. Sancho also had some good games and scored some goals. He wasn’t living up to his price tag, but he was making progress nonetheless despite not getting the same run of games that Antony and Rashford get.
Then he plays very well in the false 9 role in pre-season (against Dortmund and against Arsenal, when he also scored). Yet come the start of the season, Rashford was starting up top and playing very poorly and Sancho was making cameos from the left-wing. You can see why Sancho would feel a sense of injustice.
Perhaps a demoralised Sancho may have retaliated in some way (we do not know this as we are not in the dressing room) but Ten Hag’s comments in that press conference after the Arsenal game were a disproportionately heavy-handed response to whatever alleged misdemeanour Sancho showed in training.
Ten Hag did not need to throw Sancho under the bus like that in the media. It exposed a young man with pre-exisiting mental health issues and a sensitivity to social media pile-ons to yet another social media pile-on. Not only that, but Ten Hag has also helped to cultivate a bad reputation for Sancho which will ultimately decrease his sell-on value, future earning potential and potentially hinder his career. This is likely why Sancho felt compelled to respond with a statement and not apologise to Ten Hag either.
In the world of work, what Ten Hag did would earn, at the very least, a reprimand from human resources for what can be considered to be bullying behaviour.
The character assassination of Jadon Sancho that has followed in the media was simply the icing on the cherry. If Sancho’s “crime” was to not perform in training or on the pitch, the response from Ten Hag was a brutal thing to do to someone already struggling with mental health issues. I say it was brutal because it was totally unnecessary. What benefit did Ten Hag gain from throwing Sancho under the bus to the press? It was another scandal for United (we have enough on our plate). It likely alienated Sancho’s friends in the dressing room. It likely worsened the mental health of not just an expensive signing, but a fragile human being.
Perhaps it might be the case that Sancho is incompatible with Ten Hag’s philosophy. Perhaps he doesn’t feel it is his job to treat this kid with compassion. But exposing him to social media pile-ons through comments made to the press is totally out of order and is bullying behaviour that has the capacity to break someone’s spirit - especially that of an already vulnerable young man.