MANCHESTER UNITED fans are having a nightmare trying to get to Porto for tonight’s huge European clash.
The Europa League match at the Estadio do Dragao kicks-off at 8pm.
But several United fans remain stuck at Manchester Airport as their flight has been severely delayed.
The AlbaStar plane was set to leave at 7.50am this morning and land in northern Portugal two hours and 25 minutes later.
But a technical issue meant the flight was stuck 1,344 miles away in Rome.
It finally departed Manchester Airport at 3.20pm, meaning fans are now in a mad dash to make it to the game on time.
As compensation for their travel nightmare, the delayed passengers were reportedly given a £6 drink voucher while they waited in the departure lounge.
That would have covered the cost of a bottle of Corona from Bar MCR – but not a Budweiser or Peroni which cost more than £6.
It comes after the United players also had a disastrous journey to Porto and were delayed by three hours due to the weather.
They were due to take off at 3pm yesterday but the rain meant they were not in the air until 6.10pm.
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The delay saw Erik ten Hag‘s press conference pushed back by an hour-and-a-half to 8.30pm.
He reportedly has two games to save his job after a disastrous start to the season, with the likes of Gareth Southgate and Thomas Tuchel linked with replacing him.
And ahead of facing Porto, Ten Hag said: “As always when we are not winning, we are very disappointed and we are also mad, mad with ourselves and especially when you lose a game like Sunday.
“We are mad and from the madness we have to get motivation and go on to the next game.
“Everyone has to take responsibility and that starts with me as the manager. But on the pitch we have leadership skills and they have to stand up.
“Every game for us is important and every opponent is 100 per cent motivated. We have to be ready to compete and fight.”
SunSport's DAVE KIDD says Erik ten Hag's time at Man Utd is up… and explains what's wrong with all the potential candidates to replace him.
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.
