essay about man in the mirror

Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson Research Paper

Man in the Mirror is one of the most popular songs by the late Michael Jackson. It addresses the theme of social change ( Man in the Mirror ). The change starts from an individual, who emphasizes on his or her call for change. The song was released in 1988. In 1991, it became an instant hit, becoming number 1 in rock music charts.

Although the song was typified by very good messages, it was not the best in the “Bad” album. It was nominated for the record of the year at the Grammy Awards and, for two weeks, it remained at the top of the hottest 100. However, things were not good for the song in the United Kingdom. In fact, it only improved to the second most popular song in the nation after the death of Jackson.

It also became the most downloaded song on iTunes, and about 1.3 million copies were purchased online, implying that a large number of people liked it across the world. The song was a departure from the style that had made Jackson famous in thriller and it did not focus on the musician and other characters like most of his previous works.

It addresses a variety of world issues in a unique manner, unlike Bon Jovi’s We were not Born to Follow (Blake 114). Its images include the then president Ronald Reagan, civil rights heroes, such as Rosa Park, and video footages from the Iranian hostage crisis and KKK rallies.

It also depicts Yoko Ono, John Lennon, South African activist Bishop Desmond Tutu, and Kennedy brothers, Hitler, and Gandhi ( Man in the Mirror ). Jackson wanted to show the world its best and worst sides so that each person could consider the change that he or she could bring about to impact the world at large.

In other words, his intention was to use the song to inspire change all over the world, which is why he incorporated so many people and events that transcended geopolitical, sociocultural, and ideological borders (Schloss, Starr and Waterman 34).

Glen and Garret did the composition of Man in the Mirror, although Jackson added some background vocals from Garret as well as the Andrea gospel choir, which gave the song a noticeable gospel feel. A G-Major and an AB3-C6 vocal range typify the song, while its tempo is 100bpn, and ( Man in the Mirror ).

Jackson and his producers concentrated on using the guitar and a synthesizer. Unlike traditional pop music, such as The Beatles and Rolling Stone , which predominantly used the guitar, this song is mostly a blend of instruments and synthesized music (Blake 110; Schloss et al. 78).

There was probably little emphasis on the instruments since the song’s focus was on the message and the overall feel (Flory 140). It was meant to appeal to listeners’ deepest emotions, and there was no better way to do this than to use subtle and gentle instruments, and overt emotional vocals (Schloss et al. 65).

It is claimed that the song displayed Jackson at his worst (Flory 140). It has been described as gentle and touching. According to many people, it has a gospel feel. It stands out among every good deed Jackson has done. Although he incidentally did not write it, he proceeded to give a personal commitment. This is demonstrated when he says that he would like the “man in the mirror” to change, which can only happen if there can be self-realization.

The video was notable with regard to its departure from his traditional films since he is only seen in the last clip, wearing a distinctive red jacket, while a large crown was featured in the montage. However, it is ironic that in the last decade of his life, Jackson seemed to contradict nearly everything in the song. He was embroiled in numerous legal battles over sexual harassment, copyright issues, and drug addiction scandals.

When examined in the context of his personal life, the song seems a simple and a sincere reflection that forced listeners to re-examine the relationship between the musician’s life and his music (Schloss et al. 102). Instead of embodying the self-improvement that he shows in the song, he seems to have gone the way of many other superstars who sing positivity, but wallow in drug addiction and other negative vices that ultimately destroy their lives and careers (Flory 136).

During the Grammy Awards ceremony in 1996, Jackson performed a live extended version of the song. It is also important to note that Michael Jackson frequently performed it in dangerous world tours. He also performed in Brunei in the mid 1990s with the view of promoting unity among people from different ethnic groups.

The event was known as “United We Stand”. During the Big Brother show in 2007, a contestant used it to rebuke several contestants who were bullying Shilpa Shetty, a Bollywood actor, and it was played in the house as an alarm the next morning, implying that it was a hit song.

I have lived most of my life in a diverse environment, and on some occasions experienced discrimination because of my race and gender. The song, therefore, appeals to me since it shows that we can always work together since each person tries to improve individually for the sake of humanity. In my opinion, one of the most important historical figures in the song is Mahatma Gandhi, who was an advocate for personal change.

He believed that we should be the change we want to see in the world. Listening to the song, or watching the montages in the video, reminds me of the complex and even the evil world in which we live. People frequently harm each other for no tangible reasons, but in the same way, others have risked their lives to protect the weak and have dedicated their lives to making the world a better place for all of us.

At the end of the day, it does not matter that one does not have power, influence or money, but the most important component of change is found free in all of us. The will and ability to change one’s mind about issues of politics, race, gender, and sexuality are all that the world needs to become a better place, and only a few songs have expressed this possibility better than Man in the Mirror . I am a firm believer that individual choices shape the world and not the other way round. As a result, the song will remain a timeless piece of art, both because of its ethereal feel and for its transcendent message.

Works Cited

Blake, David. “Between a Rock and a Popular Music Survey Course: Technological Frames and Historical Narratives in Rock Music.” Journal of Music History Pedagogy 5.1 (2014): 103-115. Print.

Flory, Andrew. “Rock Narratives and Teaching Popular Music: Audiences and Critical Issues.” Journal of Music History Pedagogy 5.1 (2014): 135-142. Print.

Man in the Mirror . Ex. Prod. Michael Jackson. New York, NY: MJJ Productions Inc. 1988. DVD.

Schloss, Glenn, Larry Starr, and Christopher Waterman. Rock: Music, Culture, and Business . Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press, 2012. Print.

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Man in the Mirror: Analysis of the Social Issues Brought Up in Michael Jackson's Song

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Michael jackson "man in the mirror": analysis, similarity with other artists.

• Jackson, M. (1988). Man in the Mirror [Recorded by Michael Jackson]. On Bad [CD]. Epic Records.
• Phillips, T. (2009). The sociology of fame: Are today’s celebrities really so different from those of the past? Sociological Quarterly, 50(1), 3-19. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1533-8525.2008.01135.x
• Bell, C. (2015). Michael Jackson and the Blackface Mask. In Facing the Music: Shaping Music Education from a Global Perspective (pp. 213-232). Oxford University Press.
• Rushkoff, D. (2002). Media Virus: Hidden Agendas in Popular Culture. Ballantine Books.
• Wagner, M. (2013). 'I'm Starting with the Man in the Mirror': Michael Jackson, History, and Counter-history. Journal of Popular Music Studies, 25(4), 493-510. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpms.12052

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Home — Essay Samples — Entertainment — A Critique of Man in the Mirror, a Song by Michael Jackson

Song Critique: "Man in The Mirror" by Michael Jackson

• Categories: Michael Jackson Song Analysis

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Words: 1676 |

Published: Oct 4, 2018

Words: 1676 | Pages: 3 | 9 min read

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Introduction, man in the mirror: song critique, works cited.

• Bronson, F. (2003). The Billboard book of number 1 hits. Billboard Books.
• Campbell, L., & Huijbens, E. H. (2009). On Michael Jackson. University Press of Mississippi.
• Christgau, R. (1988). Michael Jackson's little life of horrors. Village Voice, 33(44), 35-38.
• Dyer, R. (1997). White. Routledge.
• George, N. (2018). Michael Jackson: Man in the Mirror. Canongate Books.
• Halstead, C., & Cadman, C. (2007). Michael Jackson the solo years. Authors On Line Ltd.
• Jackson, M. (1988). Man in the Mirror [Recorded by Michael Jackson]. On Bad [CD]. Epic Records.
• Perone, J. E. (2012). The words and music of Michael Jackson. ABC-CLIO.
• Taraborrelli, J. R. (2004). The magic and the madness. Headline Book Publishing.
• Vogel, J. (2012). Man in the Music: The Creative Life and Work of Michael Jackson. Sterling Publishing.

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Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson Analysis

The song I choose to analyze is Man in the Mirror, made popular by Michael Jackson. He was born in 1958 and was known as the King of Pop due to his numerous talents that included being a songwriter, dancer, American singer, record producer, and humanitarian until his death in 2009. As an eighth child, he had a distressed relationship with Joe, his father, who he claimed to verbally abuse him. However for over forty years, due to his broadcasted private life and his role to dance, music, and style, he became an international character in popular art, music, and literature. Historically, Michael was the first entertainer to have emerged as a top ten single in the Billboard Hot 100 in fifty years when in 2014, his song, Love Never felt so good peaked at 9th place. His death caused an international outburst of sorrow. His memorial was held in Los Angeles, at the Staples Center. His death was treated as a homicide due to the presence of drugs such as midazolam in his bloodstream. His other singles included The Way You Make Me Feel, Dirty Diana, Bad, and I Just Cant Stop Loving You.

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The song Man in the Mirror is written by Siedah Garret and Glen Ballard. It defines how a man can make a difference just by changing his way of interrelating with people. Michael Jacksons recordings were produced by Quincy Jones and co-produced by Jackson. In 1988, the song was released and it gained popularity in the United States at first place and as the forth single from Bad, which was the singers seventh single album. The song is considered one of the most critical acclaimed songs and was thereafter nominated at the Grammy Award as the Record of the Year. During the same year, in the UK Tracks Chart, the song emerged at the 21st position, but when Michael died in 2009, it rose to the second place. It also became the number 1 single in the United States and the UK, in iTunes downloads, having made a sale of above 1.3 million digital replicas in the past only. In addition, during Michaels tribute tour immortal, a new version of the song was produced.

The melody in this song is steady all through. In the beginning, it starts off slow with a single strata based off a piano, but then it gains strata including the key melody added by the singer himself. The song appears to have three stratums: a piano, a drum, and the singer. All the three elements follow musical purposes. For instance, when Michael Jackson sings the chorus, the melody of the song does not change. In other words, the melody is disjunctive whenever he sings the chorus but when he sings the verses, the melody changes and become conjunctive. This means that when Michael sings the chorus the intervals are large, but when he sings the verses the intervals are small. This is the case because the singer enjoys sliding whenever he sings Man in the Mirror for emphasis of the chorus.

The harmony of the sing is very well constructed. As the stratums build, they make sure that the instruments maintain a choral character. For instance, the piano and other instruments are playing a 1, 3 count on a 4 base measure while the drums are playing a 2, 4 count. This supplements great texture and character to the song. In addition, the way snapping is used as an instrumental addition to add percussion to the song is very interesting. This is because it adds an extra stratum to the melody. As a whole, this type of song can best be termed as polyphony because the synchronization and lyrics meet to create a beautiful texture. The rhythm is quite easy to follow. This is because, to be exact, it directly reflects on the lyrics repeated for most of the song which is Im starting with the man in the mirror. Each time there is a repetition of the lyrics, 5 times within the song, the rhythm also repeats itself. The tempo goes up and down, and expression is very well formulated. This is the case because it drops during the verses of the song, but then increases as you sing the chorus.

The expression of the song has great articulation, and well done changing aspects, all thanks to Michael Jackson. Man in the mirror is a classic song of the pop genre that still remains famous years after. The changing aspects and the articulation of the song are brought together in a way that makes you act during the chorus and think during the verses. This is quite a vague way as I like to view a reaction and a request, not only in musical terms, but also in a format such that Michael is calling for action. The song was designed this way because it is intended to be an inspirational and motivational song. As indicated in the beginning, the song was produced so as to inspire people to change and make the world a better place. Therefore, to change the tempo of the song may help get people motivated. The reason why the song is effective is because it shows how important it is, that if you, want to make a change in the world, you have to start with you first. The song is unique because despite the fact that it wasnt a hit first time until the death of Michael Jackson, it still feels fresh.

Amazing Grace by John Newton

The second song of interest is Amazing Grace written by John Newton, an Anglican minister and English lyricist. His personal life experience inspired him to compose the song. He grew up with no specific spiritual belief, but a path in his life was formed by multiple coincidences and turns that were often tied up in motion by his unruliness. However, in 1748, while sailing, his vessel was severely battered off the shores of County Donegal, located in Ireland, by a violent storm. In the middle of the frightening nightmare, he cried out for Gods mercies, and as a result, his spiritual transformation was marked. In 1764, he was predestined in the Church of England where he wrote hymns with William Cowper, a fellow poet.

The Christian hymn Amazing Grace was printed in 1779. It is among the most known songs in the English-language domain. The song emphasizes that it is possible to be restored and forgiven irrespective of the sins a person has committed in the past and that through Gods mercy, his or her soul can be delivered from misery. The song had a specific effect in folk music and its message has been a vital element in its cusp into worldly music. Following the assumption of the folk hymn in nonspiritual songs, it turned out to be such an image in American art, music, and literature that it has been used for many marketing promotions and nonspiritual purposes, making it a cliche.

The closer the chord and melodic elements within Amazing Grace are inspected; the more obvious it becomes that word like generic and simple defines the musical features of the song rather suitable. Frequently, the New Britain melody is put to 1, 4, and 5 chords and is among the most accustomed evolutions of Western music. That said the melody leads itself well to a number of re-harmonization that can be selected along with the mood that the artist wishes to depict. There may soon be an alteration of the chord structure of the song due to the number of artists rewriting the melody. This chord simplicity as well as inconsistency suggests that progressions of the song are not the essential reasons for its success. The melody is focused around scale degrees that reflect the major chord, with 2nd and 6th degrees used carefully as passing notes. The song comprises totally of intervals less than a perfect 4th in size, making the song well suited to the human vocal sound. The repeated minor thirds at the height of the melody accompany the low lyrics I once was lost quite appropriately, suggesting that the delineations of the melody could be described as effective. At regular intervals, the song is very basic, being made of only quavers, minims, ad crotchets. Its time mark was ordinary in composition from its period, providing slight evidence as to why the song became a Western wonder while related hymns remained in the borders of the church.

The reason why the song is unique is due to the way it has linked with an extensive cross-section of humans over many periods, and more importantly, the fact that people have been the main means of the song reinvention, evolution, and promotion through time. Additionally, the allocating and advertising of the song has been fundamentally invisible throughout the songs history. This is because the communities and artists who participate in the composition of the song have become the key methods and the promoters of the songs distribution. This has created an environment for Amazing Grace to spread on a far greater scale than conventional advertising could allow, and is likely to continue in contributing to its popularity for some time.

Pop music such as Man in the Mirror is distinct by a fundamental element which normally includes short interval songs, which are written in a verse-chorus configuration, as well as the collective employment of recurring choruses. It is vocally motivated where singers are mostly singing throughout the song. As compared to pop music, Christian hymns such as Amazing Grace are marked by constant alteration of the simplest harmonies, lively rhythm, and sentimental text. The harmony found within Amazing Grace is spoken by the four-part choral arrangement, making the song perfect for large group involvement. Commonly, instrumental complement preserves the harmonic structure found in the choral lines.

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Man In The Mirror Analysis Essay

Do Different Judgements Matter? Michael Jackson once sang the following lyrics in his song, Man in the Mirror: “Tm starting with the man in the mirror. I’m asking him to change his ways, and no message could have been any clearer. If you want to make the world a better place take a look at yourself, and then make a change. ” When someone reads a book they often have a view about one or more characters. It is sometimes made before even knowing the person. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird many of the characters are being judged by people who barely know them.

There is an ugliness in the book that comes from judging people. The ultimate message is that great good can result when one defers judgement until considering things from another person’s perspective. It is true that a judgement isn’t always right until a person changes their paradigms. When Scout was judging Walter Cunningham Jr. because of what he had, Atticus told her”… You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view – until you climb into his skin and walk around in it. (Lee 39).

Some of the people in Maycomb judge Nathan ‘Boo’ Radley because they only believe what they are told about him. At the end of the novel Scout and Jem learn that Boo is like The Gray Ghost. He gets accused of creeping out at night to stalk around the neighborhood because of what the kids and adults have been told. He is also accused of stalking around because he never comes out of his house. Another time one’s view is changed was when Calpurnia took the kids with her to church.

Jem and Scout’s experiences of going to church changed because at their sermons they repeated the same stuff weekly. When they went to the First Purchase African M. E Church with Cal they learned most of the people there can’t read, and that’s why they don’t use hymn books. The kids were accepted by all the people except for Lola, but Zeboo, Cal’s son, came over to the kids and said “Mister Jem, we’re mighty glad to have you here… She’s a troublemaker from way back, got fancy ideas an’ haughty ways–we’re mighty glad to have you all. (Lee 159).

Views have been changed when Jem thought of Miss Dubose as a mean old woman for how she spoke about the Finch family compared to the view after she died. He didn’t speak up when she spoke about Scout or himself, but the minute Miss Dubose said something about Atticus that is when the tide had changed. The next time Jem passed by the older woman’s house, he destroyed her Camellia’s. Atticus had assigned Jem to clean up and work on the beautiful, white flowers, and he had to read to the old woman everyday for a month.

Jem would suffer through the whole punishment without a complaint. What the kids didn’t know was that Miss Dubose suffered from a morphine addiction, and Jem reading to her help with that problem. Jem’s perspective didn’t change until a month and a half later when Miss Dubose had passed away. She had given Atticus a single white Camellia flower to give to Jem. It was almost as if she was stating that she had for given Jem for destroying her flowers. The Camellia represents the racism in Maycomb, and with the flowers being white it hints to the racial tension in the town.

When lem read to her it showed the more appropriat handle the racism instead of acting out right away. The way his view changed was he understood more about the bravery Miss Dubose had with the addiction and how she handled what was happen to her. He also learned to ask for help when needed with a problem he can not solve on his own. Even after all the change, that has been said and seen in the novel, there are still people who disagree. They might think that even if they were to change their way of seeing something it would still have an ugliness in it.

Aunt Alexandra would rate everyone in Maycomb by who their families are, and what they did with their lives. For example, when Aunt Alexandra wouldn’t let Scout invite Walter Cunningham Jr. over because of how much money his family had. She had told Scout the following when Scout asked to have Walter Jr. over for supper: “Don’t be silly, Jean Louise. The thing is, you can scrub Walter Cunningham till he shines, you can put him in shoes and a new suit, but he’ll never be like Jem. Besides, there’s a drinking streak in that family a mile wide. Finch women aren’t interested in that sort of people. (Lee 224). There is an ugliness that comes from judging people in To Kill a Mockingbird.

When one person defers their judgement after considering it from another’s point of view, it can result in great good which is the ultimate message. There can be many opinions on this matter, and they all may be correct with the reasoning one has for it. The lesson’s from To Kill a Mockingbird apply to life outside of anything you read as well. Many people are judged before their whole story is told. The only way one person can change their judgement is by changing the way they see something first.

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Man in the Mirror Essay Example

• Pages: 4 (881 words)
• Published: January 7, 2017
• Type: Essay

The mirror is an ever-changing piece of art. It sees all emotions and watches unconditionally with no cause or concern for its reflection. You can only see the present state of objects; it does not record the past or predict the future. We watch ourselves grow through mirrors throughout our life watching our bodies change shape and seeing all of our emotions. Some of us even practice in front of mirrors to enhance our talents such as singers and dancers. I have chosen Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror” for a representation of my life. To quote Gandhi “Be the change you wish to see in the world”, I believe you should be able to see the change you wish to be and with a mirror you can watch the transformation.

song represents a personal change to make you a more kind and caring by seeking out those in need and helping them unconditionally with love. The past couple of years I have been constantly trying to better myself on so many levels I have yet to accomplish but one. To become more healthy and fit has failed as I drive through those golden arches to receive a bag full of unhealthy, yet tasty treats. The Fish Filet sandwich with its tender flaky crust in between two tasty sandwich buns and a thick layer of delicious tartar sauce, and not to mention the ice cold Coke and over salted French fries.

The gym membership I purchased last September which was the only time I went to check the place out has an indoor swimming pool, rows of treadmills and elliptical,

and a huge weightlifting room have left me feeling a bit like a marshmallow and waddling like a penguin when I walk. I have wanted to become an avid reader so I can learn to become a greater writer by reading the works of the greats before but all I have is no time and a shelf full of books. Those are the main failures I will take claim to.

Those things relate to song the song because it all starts with the man in the mirror, but I have started to make changes to help other people by volunteering and donating personally or through my store whenever I can. When I look into to the mirror and see myself I see someone who has light brown hair, hazel eyes, and a light skin complexion. Thanks to McDonald’s I also have two necks. But what I really see is the desire to be the best I can be, the person I was born to be. I want to leave a footprint in the sand that spreads positivity, love, and a desire by others to do their best in all cases at all times. By living a moral and caring life through making others happy.

I desire to restore History to fact rather than opinion and create greater national pride. Most of us do not understand how great we have it and I want to preach it through written words to inspire communities. Watching you grow stronger through the man in the mirror is very motivating even it is not all physically visible. I am definitely not satisfied with certain things but inside the

reflection I see in the mirror is on a course steadfast achievement.

I have seen first hand how a culture that does not look itself in the eye and desire to make a difference can throw you to the curb. Watching your mother grow drunker by the day until she doesn’t come home fro weeks at a time leaves invisible scars. But when you are the oldest you must stay strong and grow up fast, cook for your brothers and sisters as your step dad tries to hold himself together through it all because his love for your mom is unequivocal. Then after she cleans up she does it all again and eventually abandon her children. I remember dishes piled to the bottom of the cupboards in the kitchen, mattresses lying on the floor because we had no bed frames, dirt and dust everywhere and nothing but junk food to eat. To be blessed with positivity and the ability to say no to peers while living in those conditions has me wandering how that I ever did it?

As the songs say, “I’ve been a victim of a selfish kind of love,” I can relate. But through seeking betterment I have found a wife with unimaginable beauty inside and out. I often think of her and smile thinking ‘How did I get so lucky?” I know though it was fate. The man in the mirror has realized how important the smallest action is such as saying “Thank You”. I see says the blind man because seeing is done with the heart not the eyes. The man in the mirror is symbolic and you

do not need a mirror to project your image, just light. You can look at every wrinkle, freckle, dark spot, blotch, ear, nose, mouth, and hair but those are only pictures painting a portrait, But as Michael state in the song “If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, And then make a change”.

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Lottery winner flooded by copycat scammers after man wins enormous £1.3bn prize

After 65-year-old Theodorus Struyck won $1.7 billion in the Powerball , several scammers are pretending to be him in a bid to get private information from social media users - much like lottery champ Edwin Castro.

The grandfather, who lives in California, won the second-biggest win in US history , and has kept a low profile since the achievement. Despite the draw being in November, he was named as the representative of the group earlier this month.

Apparently, he seems to use only one Facebook page, which has been kept private since the win hit the papers. However, that hasn't prevented an army of accounts popping up with his full name and a photograph - in a bid to scam individuals.

Read more: Powerball lottery's historic $1.7billion winner revealed 5 months after second-largest jackpot ever

Scores of scam pages on Facebook and Instagram with users and bots pretending to be the winner, offering wads of cash to followers. One bio on Instagram reads: "I'm Mr Theodorus Struyck, the mega winner of $1.765 billion in Midway market by @powerball I'm willing to help follow and just dm with I follow @."

A fake screenshot shows $15,000 in one follower's account, with a text reading: "Thanks so much I really appreciate I thought this was a dem lie. Thanks so much Theodorus." Some have commented on the posts asking if they can be helped as they are having financial difficulties.

Theo is not the only Powerball winner imitated by scammers as there are many a ccounts in the name of Edwin Castro, who scooped $2.04billion back in 2022. An unsuspecting victim previously issued a warning after receiving an e-mail from a fraudster pretending to be Castro. The victim was promised to hand over $800,000 to "some selected individuals as donation."

The scam email, which came from an eyebrow-raising address read: "Attention please. I am Edwin Castro the winner of the world's greatest jackpot in a national lottery $2.05 billion" The imposter included a link supposedly to a Guinness World Record page.

The e-mail then asked the user to contact "Mr Raymond Bradson" - a name that has been linked to other scams according to reviews on Google - with the donation code and personal details. It ended with "Bradson's" contact information, along with the sign-off: "Best regards, Edwin Castro."

For all the latest on news, politics, sports, and showbiz from the USA, go to The Mirror US

The victim, who wished to remain anonymous, told The U.S. Sun, "I was mortified - I knew immediately this sounded too good to be true, but it still had me tempted to click, especially with the cost of living crisis. Edwin's been all over the news - so for a single moment it all seemed very believable."

He went on: "I told a friend about it - and he assured me it was a scam. I was so glad I double-checked. What if someone else less cautious or tech-savvy had received it, like my elderly parents? "These scammers are shameless - playing off our desperation."

It is thought Castro only has a private Instagram page, and his legal team has dealt directly with charities to give personal donations privately to causes close to his heart.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe's two reasons for 'being unhappy' with Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag

Sir Jim Ratcliffe is seeking to restore Manchester United to the top of English football, with the British billionaire thought to be considering the future of manager Erik ten Hag

• 18:24, 1 Apr 2024

Sir Jim Ratcliffe is growing unhappy with Erik ten Hag 's management of Manchester United following another dismal performance.

The Red Devils were lucky to escape their trip to Brentford with a draw on Saturday. The Bees had been utterly dominant for much of the match, having 31 shots on Andre Onana's goal.

The point means that United have slipped further back in the race to finish in the top four. Aston Villa's win over Wolves means they are now 11 points clear of United in fourth, while fifth-place Tottenham also hold a sizeable advantage over the Red Devils.

Ratcliffe, who is in now in charge of all football matters at United after buying a 25 percent stake in the club, has made it clear he wants to be fighting for the title . Ten Hag is only in his second season at United, but already appears to be coming under pressure from above.

According to the Daily Telegraph , Ratcliffe has cited the performance against Brentford and United's defeat to Fulham five weeks ago as his reasons for growing unhappiness. Those two results have been 'dimly received' by Ineos, the company Ratcliffe owns United through.

The latest dreadful display is said to have again 'gone down badly' with Ratcliffe particularly. It is said that it has been made 'abundantly clear' that the football United are currently playing is not sustainable in the long-term.

Ratcliffe has previously refused to comment on Ten Hag's future at the club. But it is thought that the Dutchman will come under scrutiny in the summer if United fail to end the season on a high.

HAVE YOUR SAY! Should Manchester United keep Erik ten Hag as manager beyond this season? Comment below .

United's new co-owner has set out his ambition to knock Manchester City and Liverpool 'off their perch'. And he admitted that the Red Devils need to take a close look at their off-field organisation if they are to return to the top of English football.

“I’m not going to comment on Erik ten Hag because I think it would be inappropriate to do that. But if you look at the 11 years that have gone since David Gill and Sir Alex stepped down, there have been a whole series of coaches," he said in February.

"Some of which were very good. And none of them were successful or survived for very long. And you can’t blame all the coaches. The only conclusion you can draw is that the environment in which they were working didn’t work. And Erik’s been in that environment.

"I’m talking about the organisation, the people in the structure, and the atmosphere in the club. We have to do that bit. So I’m not really focused on the coach. I’m focused on getting that bit right. And it’s not for me to judge that anyway — I’m not a football professional.

“We have a lot to learn from our noisy neighbour and the other neighbour. They are the enemy at the end of the day. There is nothing I would like better than to knock both of them off their perch."

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England boss Gareth Southgate favourite to replace Erik ten Hag at Manchester United - Paper Talk

Plus: Newcastle striker Alexander Isak drops a hint about his future; Man Utd receive assurances from UEFA they will be able to play alongside Nice in the Europa League; Jose Mourinho says he is open to working in Saudi Arabia

Wednesday 27 March 2024 23:31, UK

The top stories and transfer rumours from Wednesday's newspapers...

Manchester United will look to bring England's entire coaching staff to Old Trafford this summer, SunSport can reveal. Gareth Southgate is now the red-hot favourite to replace Erik ten Hag if the Dutchman is axed at the end of the season.

Manchester United fans face travel hell for Saturday's Premier League clash at Brentford because of train strikes.

Nike have come under fire for the size of the cockerel emblem on the new France shirt, sparking another kit controversy after they were slammed for changing the colours of the St George's Cross on the new England strip.

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Chelsea's ever-evolving medical department is set for another addition with the club now seeking a new head of performance medicine amid a Premier League season plagued by injuries.

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French World Cup winner Frank Leboeuf has questioned Didier Deschamps for snubbing William Saliba.

Manchester United have received assurances from UEFA that they will be allowed to take part in the Europa League next season if Nice also qualify despite the European governing body's restrictions on multi-club ownership.

Newcastle star Alexander Isak has dropped a major hint about his future at the club ahead of the summer window admitting 'if things show up, things can happen.'

Manchester United reportedly want to speak to Wolves manager Gary O'Neil about a potential coaching role at Old Trafford.

The Football Association of Ireland has ruled out Roberto Di Matteo as a candidate for the national team's next permanent manager.

Conor Benn's route back to fighting on home soil may have been dealt a blow after UK Anti-Doping and the British Boxing Board of Control won an appeal against the verdict to lift his temporary suspension.

DAILY MIRROR

Jose Mourinho has suggested he would consider taking a job in Saudi Arabia because Cristiano Ronaldo has opened his eyes to the possibilities in the country.

THE GUARDIAN

Anti-racism campaigners in Spain have called on the country's institutions to do more to crack down on racism in football, after Real Madrid winger Vinícius Júnior laid bare the personal toll exacted by years of racist insults.

THE ATHLETIC

Inter Milan defender Francesco Acerbi will face no action after the investigation into an alleged racist remark he made towards Napoli's Juan Jesus conclude there was insufficient evidence to take the matter further.

EVENING STANDARD

Tottenham defender Cristian Romero has expressed a desire to play for Argentina at the Olympics this summer.

Harlequins are increasingly confident that Danny Care will reject a final payday in France and instead sign a contract extension to end his career at the club. The 37-year-old scrum half called time on his England career on Monday having won the last of his 101 caps during the Six Nations.

Marcus Rashford has been playing through injury for over a month. The winger has been carrying a "slight knock" since February's FA Cup clash with Nottingham Forest.

THE TELEGRAPH

Gareth Southgate has defended playing John Stones despite his injury scare for Manchester City.

DAILY RECORD

Former QPR sporting director Les Ferdinand has revealed how things turned 'toxic' at the London club after Michael Beale left for Rangers in 2022.

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• The Case for Marrying an Older Man

A woman’s life is all work and little rest. An age gap relationship can help.

In the summer, in the south of France, my husband and I like to play, rather badly, the lottery. We take long, scorching walks to the village — gratuitous beauty, gratuitous heat — kicking up dust and languid debates over how we’d spend such an influx. I purchase scratch-offs, jackpot tickets, scraping the former with euro coins in restaurants too fine for that. I never cash them in, nor do I check the winning numbers. For I already won something like the lotto, with its gifts and its curses, when he married me.

He is ten years older than I am. I chose him on purpose, not by chance. As far as life decisions go, on balance, I recommend it.

When I was 20 and a junior at Harvard College, a series of great ironies began to mock me. I could study all I wanted, prove myself as exceptional as I liked, and still my fiercest advantage remained so universal it deflated my other plans. My youth. The newness of my face and body. Compellingly effortless; cruelly fleeting. I shared it with the average, idle young woman shrugging down the street. The thought, when it descended on me, jolted my perspective, the way a falling leaf can make you look up: I could diligently craft an ideal existence, over years and years of sleepless nights and industry. Or I could just marry it early.

So naturally I began to lug a heavy suitcase of books each Saturday to the Harvard Business School to work on my Nabokov paper. In one cavernous, well-appointed room sat approximately 50 of the planet’s most suitable bachelors. I had high breasts, most of my eggs, plausible deniability when it came to purity, a flush ponytail, a pep in my step that had yet to run out. Apologies to Progress, but older men still desired those things.

I could not understand why my female classmates did not join me, given their intelligence. Each time I reconsidered the project, it struck me as more reasonable. Why ignore our youth when it amounted to a superpower? Why assume the burdens of womanhood, its too-quick-to-vanish upper hand, but not its brief benefits at least? Perhaps it came easier to avoid the topic wholesale than to accept that women really do have a tragically short window of power, and reason enough to take advantage of that fact while they can. As for me, I liked history, Victorian novels, knew of imminent female pitfalls from all the books I’d read: vampiric boyfriends; labor, at the office and in the hospital, expected simultaneously; a decline in status as we aged, like a looming eclipse. I’d have disliked being called calculating, but I had, like all women, a calculator in my head. I thought it silly to ignore its answers when they pointed to an unfairness for which we really ought to have been preparing.

I was competitive by nature, an English-literature student with all the corresponding major ambitions and minor prospects (Great American novel; email job). A little Bovarist , frantic for new places and ideas; to travel here, to travel there, to be in the room where things happened. I resented the callow boys in my class, who lusted after a particular, socially sanctioned type on campus: thin and sexless, emotionally detached and socially connected, the opposite of me. Restless one Saturday night, I slipped on a red dress and snuck into a graduate-school event, coiling an HDMI cord around my wrist as proof of some technical duty. I danced. I drank for free, until one of the organizers asked me to leave. I called and climbed into an Uber. Then I promptly climbed out of it. For there he was, emerging from the revolving doors. Brown eyes, curved lips, immaculate jacket. I went to him, asked him for a cigarette. A date, days later. A second one, where I discovered he was a person, potentially my favorite kind: funny, clear-eyed, brilliant, on intimate terms with the universe.

I used to love men like men love women — that is, not very well, and with a hunger driven only by my own inadequacies. Not him. In those early days, I spoke fondly of my family, stocked the fridge with his favorite pasta, folded his clothes more neatly than I ever have since. I wrote his mother a thank-you note for hosting me in his native France, something befitting a daughter-in-law. It worked; I meant it. After graduation and my fellowship at Oxford, I stayed in Europe for his career and married him at 23.

Of course I just fell in love. Romances have a setting; I had only intervened to place myself well. Mainly, I spotted the precise trouble of being a woman ahead of time, tried to surf it instead of letting it drown me on principle. I had grown bored of discussions of fair and unfair, equal or unequal , and preferred instead to consider a thing called ease.

The reception of a particular age-gap relationship depends on its obviousness. The greater and more visible the difference in years and status between a man and a woman, the more it strikes others as transactional. Transactional thinking in relationships is both as American as it gets and the least kosher subject in the American romantic lexicon. When a 50-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman walk down the street, the questions form themselves inside of you; they make you feel cynical and obscene: How good of a deal is that? Which party is getting the better one? Would I take it? He is older. Income rises with age, so we assume he has money, at least relative to her; at minimum, more connections and experience. She has supple skin. Energy. Sex. Maybe she gets a Birkin. Maybe he gets a baby long after his prime. The sight of their entwined hands throws a lucid light on the calculations each of us makes, in love, to varying degrees of denial. You could get married in the most romantic place in the world, like I did, and you would still have to sign a contract.

Twenty and 30 is not like 30 and 40; some freshness to my features back then, some clumsiness in my bearing, warped our decade, in the eyes of others, to an uncrossable gulf. Perhaps this explains the anger we felt directed at us at the start of our relationship. People seemed to take us very, very personally. I recall a hellish car ride with a friend of his who began to castigate me in the backseat, in tones so low that only I could hear him. He told me, You wanted a rich boyfriend. You chased and snuck into parties . He spared me the insult of gold digger, but he drew, with other words, the outline for it. Most offended were the single older women, my husband’s classmates. They discussed me in the bathroom at parties when I was in the stall. What does he see in her? What do they talk about? They were concerned about me. They wielded their concern like a bludgeon. They paraphrased without meaning to my favorite line from Nabokov’s Lolita : “You took advantage of my disadvantage,” suspecting me of some weakness he in turn mined. It did not disturb them, so much, to consider that all relationships were trades. The trouble was the trade I’d made struck them as a bad one.

The truth is you can fall in love with someone for all sorts of reasons, tiny transactions, pluses and minuses, whose sum is your affection for each other, your loyalty, your commitment. The way someone picks up your favorite croissant. Their habit of listening hard. What they do for you on your anniversary and your reciprocal gesture, wrapped thoughtfully. The serenity they inspire; your happiness, enlivening it. When someone says they feel unappreciated, what they really mean is you’re in debt to them.

When I think of same-age, same-stage relationships, what I tend to picture is a woman who is doing too much for too little.

I’m 27 now, and most women my age have “partners.” These days, girls become partners quite young. A partner is supposed to be a modern answer to the oppression of marriage, the terrible feeling of someone looming over you, head of a household to which you can only ever be the neck. Necks are vulnerable. The problem with a partner, however, is if you’re equal in all things, you compromise in all things. And men are too skilled at taking .

There is a boy out there who knows how to floss because my friend taught him. Now he kisses college girls with fresh breath. A boy married to my friend who doesn’t know how to pack his own suitcase. She “likes to do it for him.” A million boys who know how to touch a woman, who go to therapy because they were pushed, who learned fidelity, boundaries, decency, manners, to use a top sheet and act humanely beneath it, to call their mothers, match colors, bring flowers to a funeral and inhale, exhale in the face of rage, because some girl, some girl we know, some girl they probably don’t speak to and will never, ever credit, took the time to teach him. All while she was working, raising herself, clawing up the cliff-face of adulthood. Hauling him at her own expense.

I find a post on Reddit where five thousand men try to define “ a woman’s touch .” They describe raised flower beds, blankets, photographs of their loved ones, not hers, sprouting on the mantel overnight. Candles, coasters, side tables. Someone remembering to take lint out of the dryer. To give compliments. I wonder what these women are getting back. I imagine them like Cinderella’s mice, scurrying around, their sole proof of life their contributions to a more central character. On occasion I meet a nice couple, who grew up together. They know each other with a fraternalism tender and alien to me.  But I think of all my friends who failed at this, were failed at this, and I think, No, absolutely not, too risky . Riskier, sometimes, than an age gap.

My younger brother is in his early 20s, handsome, successful, but in many ways: an endearing disaster. By his age, I had long since wisened up. He leaves his clothes in the dryer, takes out a single shirt, steams it for three minutes. His towel on the floor, for someone else to retrieve. His lovely, same-age girlfriend is aching to fix these tendencies, among others. She is capable beyond words. Statistically, they will not end up together. He moved into his first place recently, and she, the girlfriend, supplied him with a long, detailed list of things he needed for his apartment: sheets, towels, hangers, a colander, which made me laugh. She picked out his couch. I will bet you anything she will fix his laundry habits, and if so, they will impress the next girl. If they break up, she will never see that couch again, and he will forget its story. I tell her when I visit because I like her, though I get in trouble for it: You shouldn’t do so much for him, not for someone who is not stuck with you, not for any boy, not even for my wonderful brother.

Too much work had left my husband, by 30, jaded and uninspired. He’d burned out — but I could reenchant things. I danced at restaurants when they played a song I liked. I turned grocery shopping into an adventure, pleased by what I provided. Ambitious, hungry, he needed someone smart enough to sustain his interest, but flexible enough in her habits to build them around his hours. I could. I do: read myself occupied, make myself free, materialize beside him when he calls for me. In exchange, I left a lucrative but deadening spreadsheet job to write full-time, without having to live like a writer. I learned to cook, a little, and decorate, somewhat poorly. Mostly I get to read, to walk central London and Miami and think in delicious circles, to work hard, when necessary, for free, and write stories for far less than minimum wage when I tally all the hours I take to write them.

At 20, I had felt daunted by the project of becoming my ideal self, couldn’t imagine doing it in tandem with someone, two raw lumps of clay trying to mold one another and only sullying things worse. I’d go on dates with boys my age and leave with the impression they were telling me not about themselves but some person who didn’t exist yet and on whom I was meant to bet regardless. My husband struck me instead as so finished, formed. Analyzable for compatibility. He bore the traces of other women who’d improved him, small but crucial basics like use a coaster ; listen, don’t give advice. Young egos mellow into patience and generosity.

My husband isn’t my partner. He’s my mentor, my lover, and, only in certain contexts, my friend. I’ll never forget it, how he showed me around our first place like he was introducing me to myself: This is the wine you’ll drink, where you’ll keep your clothes, we vacation here, this is the other language we’ll speak, you’ll learn it, and I did. Adulthood seemed a series of exhausting obligations. But his logistics ran so smoothly that he simply tacked mine on. I moved into his flat, onto his level, drag and drop, cleaner thrice a week, bills automatic. By opting out of partnership in my 20s, I granted myself a kind of compartmentalized, liberating selfishness none of my friends have managed. I am the work in progress, the party we worry about, a surprising dominance. When I searched for my first job, at 21, we combined our efforts, for my sake. He had wisdom to impart, contacts with whom he arranged coffees; we spent an afternoon, laughing, drawing up earnest lists of my pros and cons (highly sociable; sloppy math). Meanwhile, I took calls from a dear friend who had a boyfriend her age. Both savagely ambitious, hyperclose and entwined in each other’s projects. If each was a start-up , the other was the first hire, an intense dedication I found riveting. Yet every time she called me, I hung up with the distinct feeling that too much was happening at the same time: both learning to please a boss; to forge more adult relationships with their families; to pay bills and taxes and hang prints on the wall. Neither had any advice to give and certainly no stability. I pictured a three-legged race, two people tied together and hobbling toward every milestone.

I don’t fool myself. My marriage has its cons. There are only so many times one can say “thank you” — for splendid scenes, fine dinners — before the phrase starts to grate. I live in an apartment whose rent he pays and that shapes the freedom with which I can ever be angry with him. He doesn’t have to hold it over my head. It just floats there, complicating usual shorthands to explain dissatisfaction like, You aren’t being supportive lately . It’s a Frenchism to say, “Take a decision,” and from time to time I joke: from whom? Occasionally I find myself in some fabulous country at some fabulous party and I think what a long way I have traveled, like a lucky cloud, and it is frightening to think of oneself as vapor.

Mostly I worry that if he ever betrayed me and I had to move on, I would survive, but would find in my humor, preferences, the way I make coffee or the bed nothing that he did not teach, change, mold, recompose, stamp with his initials, the way Renaissance painters hid in their paintings their faces among a crowd. I wonder if when they looked at their paintings, they saw their own faces first. But this is the wrong question, if our aim is happiness. Like the other question on which I’m expected to dwell: Who is in charge, the man who drives or the woman who put him there so she could enjoy herself? I sit in the car, in the painting it would have taken me a corporate job and 20 years to paint alone, and my concern over who has the upper hand becomes as distant as the horizon, the one he and I made so wide for me.

To be a woman is to race against the clock, in several ways, until there is nothing left to be but run ragged.

We try to put it off, but it will hit us at some point: that we live in a world in which our power has a different shape from that of men, a different distribution of advantage, ours a funnel and theirs an expanding cone. A woman at 20 rarely has to earn her welcome; a boy at 20 will be turned away at the door. A woman at 30 may find a younger woman has taken her seat; a man at 30 will have invited her. I think back to the women in the bathroom, my husband’s classmates. What was my relationship if not an inconvertible sign of this unfairness? What was I doing, in marrying older, if not endorsing it? I had taken advantage of their disadvantage. I had preempted my own. After all, principled women are meant to defy unfairness, to show some integrity or denial, not plan around it, like I had. These were driven women, successful, beautiful, capable. I merely possessed the one thing they had already lost. In getting ahead of the problem, had I pushed them down? If I hadn’t, would it really have made any difference?

When we decided we wanted to be equal to men, we got on men’s time. We worked when they worked, retired when they retired, had to squeeze pregnancy, children, menopause somewhere impossibly in the margins. I have a friend, in her late 20s, who wears a mood ring; these days it is often red, flickering in the air like a siren when she explains her predicament to me. She has raised her fair share of same-age boyfriends. She has put her head down, worked laboriously alongside them, too. At last she is beginning to reap the dividends, earning the income to finally enjoy herself. But it is now, exactly at this precipice of freedom and pleasure, that a time problem comes closing in. If she would like to have children before 35, she must begin her next profession, motherhood, rather soon, compromising inevitably her original one. The same-age partner, equally unsettled in his career, will take only the minimum time off, she guesses, or else pay some cost which will come back to bite her. Everything unfailingly does. If she freezes her eggs to buy time, the decision and its logistics will burden her singly — and perhaps it will not work. Overlay the years a woman is supposed to establish herself in her career and her fertility window and it’s a perfect, miserable circle. By midlife women report feeling invisible, undervalued; it is a telling cliché, that after all this, some husbands leave for a younger girl. So when is her time, exactly? For leisure, ease, liberty? There is no brand of feminism which achieved female rest. If women’s problem in the ’50s was a paralyzing malaise, now it is that they are too active, too capable, never permitted a vacation they didn’t plan. It’s not that our efforts to have it all were fated for failure. They simply weren’t imaginative enough.

For me, my relationship, with its age gap, has alleviated this rush , permitted me to massage the clock, shift its hands to my benefit. Very soon, we will decide to have children, and I don’t panic over last gasps of fun, because I took so many big breaths of it early: on the holidays of someone who had worked a decade longer than I had, in beautiful places when I was young and beautiful, a symmetry I recommend. If such a thing as maternal energy exists, mine was never depleted. I spent the last nearly seven years supported more than I support and I am still not as old as my husband was when he met me. When I have a child, I will expect more help from him than I would if he were younger, for what does professional tenure earn you if not the right to set more limits on work demands — or, if not, to secure some child care, at the very least? When I return to work after maternal upheaval, he will aid me, as he’s always had, with his ability to put himself aside, as younger men are rarely able.

Above all, the great gift of my marriage is flexibility. A chance to live my life before I become responsible for someone else’s — a lover’s, or a child’s. A chance to write. A chance at a destiny that doesn’t adhere rigidly to the routines and timelines of men, but lends itself instead to roomy accommodation, to the very fluidity Betty Friedan dreamed of in 1963 in The Feminine Mystique , but we’ve largely forgotten: some career or style of life that “permits year-to-year variation — a full-time paid job in one community, part-time in another, exercise of the professional skill in serious volunteer work or a period of study during pregnancy or early motherhood when a full-time job is not feasible.” Some things are just not feasible in our current structures. Somewhere along the way we stopped admitting that, and all we did was make women feel like personal failures. I dream of new structures, a world in which women have entry-level jobs in their 30s; alternate avenues for promotion; corporate ladders with balconies on which they can stand still, have a smoke, take a break, make a baby, enjoy themselves, before they keep climbing. Perhaps men long for this in their own way. Actually I am sure of that.

Once, when we first fell in love, I put my head in his lap on a long car ride; I remember his hands on my face, the sun, the twisting turns of a mountain road, surprising and not surprising us like our romance, and his voice, telling me that it was his biggest regret that I was so young, he feared he would lose me. Last week, we looked back at old photos and agreed we’d given each other our respective best years. Sometimes real equality is not so obvious, sometimes it takes turns, sometimes it takes almost a decade to reveal itself.

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