Ten Hag’s Man Utd record only PROVES one thing

Robin Bairner

• 29 Mar 2024 22:15 GMT
• 4 min read

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag faces a complicated few weeks as he fights for his job.

No one at Old Trafford yet knows what the future holds for the former Ajax manager, who may somehow survive the disappointment of failing to land a Champions League place to continue for a third year at Man Utd.

Ten Hag’s defenders would point to the fact that he has the best win percentage of any Red Devils boss in the post-war era, yet this statistic only serves to prove how easy he’s had it.

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The Dutchman has won 60.8% of matches he has seen as Man Utd manager, surpassing Sir Alex Ferguson’s 59.7%.

All this shows, however, is how strong the grip of the teams at the top of the Premier League is over their rivals.

Indeed, it is telling that every manager since Ferguson retired in 2013 is above virtually everyone in the pre-Premier League era.

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The great Sir Matt Busby, for example, won little over 50% of matches he oversaw. It is ludicrous to suggest that Ten Hag’s record is comparable to what has been achieved by those who have gone before him.

There is a strong correlation between the win percentage of Man Utd managers and how close to the modern day they were appointed.

All that his record serves to show is that the top clubs are now in a different league to the vast majority of their rivals. Ten Hag, for example, has spent over €400 million in 18 months to achieve what he has managed.

Man Utd have been nowhere close to challenging at the summit of the table, yet Ten Hag’s win percentage remains more than healthy – it is exceptional.

Given his outsized spending, he should be held to a different standard to those who have gone before him.

Rather than the Red Devils’ bosses of old, he should be compared to his current peers.

Despite Liverpool enduring an uncharacteristically poor campaign last time out, finishing fifth and outside of the Champions League spots, Jurgen Klopp has picked up nine more points than Ten Hag.

Arsenal, meanwhile, have spent less money and have achieved, in league terms, considerably more. It could, of course, be argued that Mikel Arteta’s project is more advanced, yet are their any hints that Ten Hag is about to turn it around next season? Recent back-to-back defeats against Fulham and Man City suggest otherwise.

The money available has skewed historic statistics in Ten Hag’s favour, proving only that more-often-than not, money talks.