Erik ten Hag is no longer the manager of Manchester United Football Club. Those words have been saved in most journalist’s notepads for the best part of 12 months, as the Red Devils have been embarrassed time and time again under the watch of the delusional Dutchman.
The fact it’s taken this long for Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the INEOS group to put Ten Hag out of his misery is unforgivable. No other club in world football would have given the 54-year-old a new two-year contract after the catastrophe that was United’s 2023-24 season.
The FA Cup came back to Old Trafford after an unlikely final win over Manchester City, but that didn’t make up for United slumping to eighth in the Premier League – their worst-ever finish. To put that miserable showing into even greater perspective: rock-bottom Sheffield United were the only club to face more shots than the Red Devils as the players struggled to stick to Ten Hag’s baffling tactical blueprint.
To the surprise of no one, except Ratcliffe and his newly-assembled backroom team at Old Trafford, United’s problems have resurfaced in the early stages of the new campaign, leaving Ten Hag’s position completely untenable. It has been reported that the former Ajax boss will receive a £17.5 million ($23m) compensation package after finally being put out his misery, which represents a serious embarrassment for INEOS, but that financial hit probably won’t have a lasting impact.
Their inability to foresee the inevitable will, though. Ten Hag should go down as the worst manager in United’s entire history, and he leaves an almighty mess behind for the next man who is chosen to try and restore the glory of the Sir Alex Ferguson era.