Fans all make the same Man Utd point amid Sir Jim Ratcliffe being spotted at London Marathon

Fans are all making the same point about Manchester United after Sir Jim Ratcliffe was spotted running the London marathon.

On Sunday United take on Coventry in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley, with a place in the final against Manchester City at stake.

Ahead of the game United have been besieged by injuries, with it having emerged that Harry Maguire is a doubt after only returning to training on Friday.

While the England international may be available for the FA Cup tie, Ten Hag will certainly be without defenders Raphael Varane, Lisandro Martinez, Luke Shaw, Victor Lindelof, Jonny Evans and Tyrell Malacia.

And with it emerging the United co-owner Ratcliffe was running the London marathon on Sunday ahead of the FA Cup clash, several fans joked that the 71-year-old was in better health than their first team.

One person said on X, formally Twitter: "You want him to play centre-back today?"

Another added: "Why do we have him running a marathon when we have just one fit cb?"

A third said: "Fitter than Luke Shaw."

A fourth joked: "More mobile than Casemiro."

Speaking of his latest injury crisis ahead of the Coventry clash, Ten Hag boldly suggested that he had only been able to chose his strongest squad on one occasion in the past year and a half - against rivals Manchester City in January 2023.

"In 18 months I have never had my favourite team on the pitch, because the players are injured. That concerns me," Ten Hag said at his press conference on Friday.

"In fact, one time against Man City last season in the home game - that was the only time we had a full squad when I could pick my team. In all the other games, there was always an injury aspect that we had to deal with. That's normal in football, but not as many as we have had.

"When you have so many injuries as we have had in crucial, key positions, you can't deliver the results you want. That's my truth. Others can have different truths, but I can't put energy into that."

Featured Image Credit: EivindHolth via X

Topics: Manchester United, FA Cup, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Erik Ten Hag, Manchester City, Fan Reactions

Chris Byfield

Sport journalist with experience writing on football, rugby, boxing and the Olympics. I'm also a Crystal Palace fan. Please don't hold this against me.