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What Now For Man United After Ten Hag Exit?

Oct 29, 2024

Man United have confirmed the news that’s been a long time coming – Erik Ten Hag has been sacked as manager with immediate effect.

It follows the Red Devil’s 2-1 EPL loss to West Ham which left them 14^th in the league standings with only three wins from nine matches.

Ten Hag departs two and a half years after taking charge, with his assistant Ruud Van Nistelrooy to be appointed as interim boss until a permanent successor is found.

Rumours about Ten Hag’s exit have been swirling since last season, when United finished the league campaign in eighth place. They did go on to shock Man City in the FA Cup final, which many observers say was the only reason the Dutchman was kept on for another campaign.

However, with the club currently languishing in the bottom half of the table, it’s believed the United hierarchy felt compelled to act now, while there’s still a chance of salvaging their campaign and securing a European place for next season.

No clear vision

One of the biggest criticisms of Ten Hag is that he offered no clear direction or vision for the team.

When he first arrived at Old Trafford in April 2022, he did speak of a ‘plan’ to bring United back to its glory days…but what seen on the pitch told a different story.

United were often described by pundits as ‘lacking direction’ and ‘defensively poor’…despite the fact that Ten Hag spent 600 million pounds on new signings.

What next for United?

The hunt for Ten Hag’s successor has already gone into overdrive, with United said to be already in talks with Sporting Lisbon’s Ruben Amorim.

The Portuguese is a highly-regarded young manager, who was one of those considered as Jurgen Klopp’s replacement at Liverpool.

Amorim is also reportedly being eyed as a possible successor to Pep Guardiola at Man City.

Some of the others rumoured to also be in the running for the Old Trafford hot-seat include Xavi Hernandez (who’s since ruled himself out), ex-Borussia Dortmund boss Edin Terzic, former Brighton and Chelsea manager Graham Potter and Brentford’s Thomas Frank.

Whoever comes in will be United’s sixth manager since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.

That fact in itself should serve as an alarm bell that all is not well with the 20-time league champions.