Why it’s inevitable that Man Utd sack Ten Hag
FT Desk
- 28 Apr 2022 16:50 BST
- 4 min read
Erik ten Hag will make the move from Ajax to Manchester United this summer, but the switch won't be as easy as the short flight from Amsterdam to Manchester.
In fact, since Sir Alex Ferguson left Old Trafford the job has been a poisoned chalice for anyone brave enough to take it.
No matter what type of manager the club have employed, it's not worked out once in nearly a decade.
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Ferguson's favourite in David Moyes, experience trophy-winners in Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho, a club legend in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and a revolutionary modern head coach in Ralf Rangnick have all arrived through the door and all haven't achieved the necessary success.
Man Utd have shown they haven't had a clear identity to their approach since Ferguson's departure by hiring such drastically different managers and Erik ten Hag can't work miracles.
Ten Hag has been able to rebuild and rejuvenate his Ajax team within his spell at the club. The first era of Frenkie de Jong, Matthijs de Ligt, Hakim Ziyech and Donny van de Beek made way for stars such as Antony, Sebastian Haller and Jurrien Timber, but he's been given time to develop those players. At Man Utd, time is of the essence, success is demanded immediately and failure will be punished quickly.
Moyes was the man hand-picked by Ferguson as his replacement, but the former Everton manager didn't even last a season at Old Trafford. Fast forward to the present day and he's led West Ham to within touching distance of the top four and to a Europa League semi-final.
Now, Moyes and Man Utd perhaps simply wasn't a good fit, but he was excellent at Everton and he's been excellent at West Ham; perhaps it was less down to the manager and more down to the club.
The one saving grace for Ten Hag is that since Moyes' sacking, Man Utd have been fairly lenient with the length of time given to a manager. Van Gaal lasted two years, Mourinho two-and-a-half, while Solskjaer was one month shy of three years in charge. So, Ten Hag might be given a fair bit of time, but it may not be enough.
With Rangnick's ideology of counter-pressing a-la RB Leipzig not translating onto the Man Utd players yet, Ten Hag's methods may suffer a similar fate.
Changing Man Utd's mindset
While a summer rebuild in terms of transfers is set to occur at Old Trafford in order to stand Ten Hag in the best stead possible, a completely new squad won't solve everything.
First of all, integrating a vast number of players in one summer is always tricky, as seen by teams promoted from the Championship every year, and the club is stick in its ways of overpaying for players in the wrong areas.
The defensive midfield void should be solved this upcoming window, but it's two or three years late. Several other problem positions have arisen and it's clear the club haven't planned a clear structure or strategy to their spending.
Ten Hag will inherit a squad built vastly for Mourinho and Solskjaer, two completely different managers to him. Furthermore, funds aren't unlimited so he won't be able to fix everything within just one year.
Manchester City and Liverpool are streets clear of Man Utd in terms of on-pitch performance and behind-the-scenes, so success is unlikely to arrive soon. While Man Utd were patient with club legend Solskjaer, they may not act accordingly with Ten Hag and their spend of €800 million since their last trophy could well exceed the €1 billion mark before too long.
Ten Hag may have revolutionised Ajax, but doing the same at Man Utd is a completely different task, and one that could well fail before it's even begun.
The mindset of the club is one that determines success but doesn't have the necessary building blocks in place to achieve this and Ten Hag may well end up being the piece sacrificed rather than anyone behind-the-scenes.
