Ten Hag wasn’t MAN enough for Man Utd

Paul Macdonald

• 28 Oct 2024 12:38 GMT
• 4 min read

Erik ten Hag is gone, but why oh why did it take this long?

The Dutchman was never, ever the correct fit for Manchester United. In his first two league games, he oversaw brutal defeats to Brighton and Brentford - 4-0 to the latter - and he was already on the defensive, blaming other factors and never, ever willing to take any responsibility.

It was an attitude that permeated his reign and helped to solidify the feeling that Man Utd are no longer an organisation to be feared, to be reckoned with or even to worry about. Once that sets in, it takes a massive organisational effort to return to what was once there.

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And that should be the biggest concern for United fans - that it took INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so long to come to this decision.

Ten Hag’s clear inadequacies as a man and a communicator should have been obvious to the cabal of high-profile names that Ratcliffe has amassed in his new hierarchy. He wasn’t cut out for the scrutiny, wasn’t built to answer the big questions, and wasn’t willing to accept any kind of responsibility for ineptitude.

There are football clubs, and then there are institutions, and they’re not the same thing. Being able to understand the magnitude of your role, and being able to navigate a scathing press capable of shaping every word you say, is a prerequisite of the job.

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It’s why Ratcliffe flirted with the idea of Gareth Southgate; he’s far from a tactical genius, but he restored a sense of standing to an England national team at its lowest ebb after losing to Iceland in 2016.

That evolution often goes overlooked in Southgate’s journey, and much of the focus was on him ‘wasting’ this supposed Golden Generation. But England even getting close to a final looked further than ever when he took over, and he ended the project getting to two of them, plus a semi-final and a quarter-final.

Man Utd's next manager hunt

United need someone who can restore a sense of gravitas to the position of United manager, and to the club itself. Their reputation has been dragged through the dirt by a series of terrible signings, tactical horror shows and amateurish excuses. Ten Hag has been given the keys to oversee all of that, and as far back as the Brentford game it was all too clear that this was never going to work.

But, Ten Hag always seemed to find that result, the one where his execution was stayed just a little longer. Whether it was the League Cup in his first season - a season where his team lost 7-0 to Liverpool, a result which would have gotten most other managers sacked. Or defeating Man City in the FA Cup final last season, where the team finished eighth and lost at home to Bournemouth, Fulham, Crystal Palace and Brighton along the way.

The club seemed desperate to find a reason to keep him, rather than all the mounting evidence as to why he should go. Even in his demise, it has been confusing, with rumours citing the recent hammering at home to Tottenham being a deciding factor; and yet, there was an eight-hour board meeting which came after this which decided to keep him in place.

United now have a huge decision to make. There’s plenty of tacticos out there, but not as many good orators, and after the empty jerseys of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ten Hag, United need someone who can speak his mind and defend his club, while getting things done. That’s a hugely difficult balance to strike.

And the big worry for United fans should be - Ten Hag was so obviously a failure. How can they trust this ownership to find a successor?