The untold story of Erik ten Hag's sacking at Manchester United
The untold story of Erik ten Hag's sacking at Manchester United
Ten Hag was the right manager at the right time for Man Utd, but things went very badly wrong for the Dutchman
This article first appeared in the Manchester Evening News. You can read it here.
The curtains were closed at Erik ten Hag's Hale home when he left Manchester earlier this month. This turned out to be a Red October.
‘Bluffer’ is the biggest insult Roy Keane could ever level at anyone. A time-served United player used that word to describe Ten Hag in his first season.
Players who had seen managers come and go - and seen some off - saw through Ten Hag, a source close to one of them said. A position that ought to have been untenable in May was prolonged until October. United went backwards before the clocks went back.
From April, Ten Hag started to linger by the Old Trafford tunnel and milk the applause of the United supporters. It was a deliberate and desperate measure to demonstrate the apparent adoration reserved for him. He even did it when he re-emerged for the second half against Liverpool in September. The problem was United were 2-0 down.
Eight days after Arne Slot schooled Ten Hag, a United staff member clarified the team coached by Ten Hag in Mark van der Maarel’s testimonial at FC Utrecht had actually won the game. Some desks had erroneously reported Ten Hag was on the losing side.
Seeking a correction was fair and someone at United was irked by the “anti-Ten Hag” narrative. Ten Hag still had allies to go into bat for him but he was on a sticky wicket.
He never recovered from an annus horribilis that was still salvaged with a trophy. The extension of his contract made this season an extension of last season, with United familiarly bad.
Ten Hag’s last act was to conduct a pre-match press conference at West Ham for a match he will not manage in. That is a suitably shambolic conclusion to his stint under the amateurish Ineos overlords.
United have gone backwards and Ten Hag’s coaching has become backward thinking. He has overused the word ‘rotation’ to account for illogical substitutions and selections, he has not chimed with the matchgoers in well over a year and ceased to be the most popular coaching staff member in the dugout.
The final chant aired by United supporters in Istanbul Wednesday was “Ruud, Ruud, Ruud, Ruud, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Van Nistelrooy, Van Nistelrooy”. That will get a louder airing against Leicester on Wednesday.
Industry figures feel the farce at United is a comeuppance for Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos. "They've disrespected football," a club executive said, referring to the presence of former cycling team principal Sir Dave Brailsford among United's decision-makers.
Ten Hag half-joked Brailsford "really threw a spanner in the works" by showing up on his doorstep in Ibiza in June. In retrospect, that interruption to his vacation was inconvenient for all parties concerned. Ten Hag and Ineos were then stuck in a marriage of inconvenience.
Before the FA Cup final in May, Ten Hag insisted on boarding the train last at Stockport Station. A source confirmed it was a good luck ritual.
A friend was on board. “It’s already derailed,” he joked. United got back on track at Wembley.
At away games, Ten Hag was always the last to disembark the United coach, five minutes after the last player had stepped off. Those superstitious moments of quiet contemplation offered brief respite.
The blacked-out windows on the coach shielded Ten Hag from waiting fans, offering the privacy of a prayer room. If he intoned a quiet request at Wembley, it was answered.
The spouse of one of the United dignitaries hailed the FA Cup salvation as a “miracle”. Ten Hag did not require divine intervention.
United were intense, compact and clinical in their victory over Manchester City. Considering the formidable opposition, the occasion and what was at stake, it was United’s finest performance under the Dutchman.
Ten Hag led the United players up the Wembley steps for the trophy presentation. He paused before ascending the second flight and noticed the assembled hospitality attendants and journalists filming the procession on their smartphones. “It’s a nice day,” he said understatedly.
The day before, a report promised Ten Hag’s sacking. One of the industry whispers was that a senior figure at Chelsea had leaked it in the hope it would disrupt United’s preparations as the Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna had rejected Chelsea and was holding out for the United job. United stunned City, nabbed Chelsea’s place in the Europa League, relegating them to the Conference League, and McKenna accepted a salary hike at Ipswich.
Sir Alex Ferguson was the last United manager to secure silverware in successive seasons. Ernest Mangnall, Ferguson, Sir Matt Busby, Ron Atkinson, Jose Mourinho and Ten Hag are the only United managers who have lifted more than one major trophy.
United supporters unfurled a banner listing their roll of honours as the players emerged for the final. A 13th FA Cup will have to be woven into it.
Ten Hag almost forgot to take the League Cup when he left the press conference hall 15 months earlier. “I can leave it because of the next cup!” Ten Hag quipped amid chortles. “This one is in.” Another one was in.
The FA Cup did not accompany Ten Hag at what seemed set to be his final press conference in the same room. It was a markedly different mood to the League Cup final debrief even though United had clinched their sweetest FA Cup win in nearly 30 years.
As magnificent as United’s achievement was, there was an inevitability as to how Ten Hag’s engagement with the media would develop. The Wembley press conference room is so vast it doubles as a university lecture auditorium and Ten Hag was in a lecturing mood.
He was reminded that United finished eighth in the Premier League table with a minus goal difference. He told the journalist, “You don’t have any knowledge about football.“ A little over three months later, he told the same journalist, “I feel sorry for you.”
That was in response to said journalist outlining the parallels between the United of last season and this season. A source who deals with United quipped, “Everything has to change for everything to remain the same.”
United had a new co-chairman, a new chief executive with a new structure, an inaugural sporting director, a new technical director and new coaches. They jettisoned a physio, a kit man and a press officer. But the manager stayed the same.
Van Nistelrooy was reluctant to do any press activity during the pre-season tour so as not to make himself the centre of attention as the manager remained the same. There would have been short odds back then on Ten Hag getting sacked and Van Nistelrooy taking caretaker charge in October.
Ineos lost their nerve in May and Ratcliffe underestimated the significance of the manager at a football club. Ten Hag has been specifically referred to as the “coach” by Ratcliffe, Omar Berrada and Dan Ashworth and there can be a permanent title change now.
It was not just players who saw through Ten Hag. The cup final performance was an anomaly, an unreliable gauge of United’s performance. After nine turbulent months, Ten Hag should have been allowed to ride off into the sunset.
A minority of senior United players were unconvinced by Ten Hag even during his successful first season when he was bracketed among Europe’s elite coaches. That says more about the players than the manager. That elite status, seemingly revoked, was briefly restored with the managerial masterclass in the FA Cup final.
Early into Ten Hag’s second season, a player complained, “If your face doesn’t fit you’re sacrificed.” The dressing room consensus was Ten Hag had favourites he would protect at all costs and he was more strident in his criticism of players he had inherited. As United’s season spiralled, Ten Hag ceased such privileges and his four most expensive signings were among the substitutes on the FA Cup final teamsheet.
One player became so resentful his relative told a confidant, “We won’t be bailing him out again.” That was a mere month into the 2023-24 season.
That culture has lingered at United for the best part of a decade; that of the player surviving the manager in anticipation of a new one they can bedazzle. Plenty of United fans will regret Ten Hag has gone before certain players who have outstayed their welcome.
They will also despair at the defenestration that had shades of the last Dutch United manager’s downfall. Ineos were more indecisive and more conscious of supporter sentiment than Ed Woodward.
A power vacuum partly reprieved Ten Hag. Yet when Berrada and Ashworth entered the building, they okayed another Dutch-centric transfer window, leaving the next incumbent saddled with a squad that will require a rebuild and a rebranding.
Ten Hag had to go but the dressing room bitching that was rife under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick continues. “F*****g Ronaldo wannabe,” a United player’s hanger-on said of Alejandro Garnacho, a teenager who started 38 consecutive matches in 2023-24, never got injured, never went into hiding and scored in the FA Cup final.
This correspondent continued to receive abusive and barely coherent emails from the close relative of an experienced United player last season. Good eggs still outnumber the rotten apples in the dressing room and the next manager will inherit a promising nucleus to build the team around.
United’s refusal to provide clarity on Ten Hag’s position meant the FA Cup final had the makings of the frenzied aftermath of the 2016 final. The glory caught a visibly dumbfounded Ratcliffe off guard.
Ten Hag sought a public vote of confidence in the second half of last term that was never forthcoming. Ratcliffe was always unconvinced by him.
With uncertainty rife, Ten Hag started to sound more delusional and desperate at press conferences that were as far removed from the good game he talked in his first season as United are from City in the league table. He said United were in a “good direction” as recently as last week. The direction they are heading in is the relegation zone.
A dichotomy developed between the club and the new power brokers, exacerbated by the callous cost-cutting by Ineos. Depleted departments lacked the resources to project a more befitting image of United and time-served staff were left to pick up the pieces.
Some at United protested they were “not thin-skinned” yet were so allergic to negative coverage they resorted to avoidably antagonistic methods. With barely anyone at the coalface, Ineos staff learnt of the fraught atmosphere second-hand during their first months.
United were so sensitive about some players’ places they framed their demotions as rotational. Marcus Rashford was the only player dropped for the agonising away defeat to Chelsea in April yet United were treading on eggshells with a player who had crossed Ten Hag twice already.
Rasmus Hojlund’s dry run of one goal in ten games prompted his removal from the team against Newcastle in May. With Hojlund vexed by the Manchester Evening News’s story about certain teammates hesitating about passing the ball to him, his bench role was couched as “maintaining freshness”. Hojlund certainly was fresh in three productive substitute appearances against Newcastle, Brighton and City - all from the bench.
Matchgoers turned on the players more than the manager. Booing has become a recurring soundtrack at Old Trafford and Ten Hag’s substitutions of Hojlund, Kobbie Mainoo and Garnacho sparked audible disapproval. Anthony Martial, Rashford and Antony all copped grief more than once last season. When a confidant suggested to Ten Hag that the perma-crock Martial should get a new hobby, he agreed.
Then Ten Hag drew the ire of the matchgoers at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-final. His approval ratings plummeted to an all-time low with the farcical penalty shootout progression past Coventry City. Back at the national stadium 34 days later, they soared.
The semi-final was a more accurate reflection of United than the final. "When we scored the first one you could just almost feel like we could do something even though they’re better than us,” a Coventry player said. “For that last 30 minutes or so of the normal 90 I don’t think at one point any of us were intimidated by any of them."
When a United player was asked what he made of the Coventry game, there was a Pinter pause before he replied: “We’re in the FA Cup final. That’s the best thing I can say about it!”
United were stripped of any superiority complex by a Championship club that was a toenail away from inflicting the worst result on United at Wembley. Ten Hag was bemused by the negative coverage that he labelled “embarrassing” and a “disgrace”.
A club staff member seriously heralded the “resilience” United displayed in the shootout to general disbelief. United were unfortunate to concede a lucky goal and a harsh penalty, they said.
United supporters rallied in the final weeks, providing defiant scenes after the season nadir in the 4-0 trouncing by Crystal Palace. The same section at Old Trafford that urged Paul Pogba to “f**k off” on his last sighting at Old Trafford serenaded Martial as he bid adieu. The harmony did United no harm.
A season-ticket holder stayed at the Hilton Croydon, where United checked in on the day of the Palace debacle. He happened to be in the hotel lift with Ten Hag, who "looked beaten up".
There were around two dozen supporters present for United's send-off and Ten Hag did not acknowledge them. He gave the away followers in the Arthur Wait Stand a swerve later on that evening.
On the Premier League’s final day at Brighton, Ten Hag signed autographs as United departed their hotel for the Amex Stadium and approached the away section at full-time. Apart from Turf Moor and Craven Cottage, where players and staff have to pass the away supporters, Ten Hag seldom acknowledged the hardcore contingent. United’s mood was as sunny as the weather in Hove, despite their lowest league finish since 1990.
After what seemed certain to be his final match at Old Trafford against Newcastle in May, Ten Hag celebrated the following evening by dining alone at La Famiglia, a favourite haunt of Hale residents Kevin Keegan and David de Gea. Even in a private setting, he could appear as isolated as he often did in the technical area during the final months of a cataclysmic campaign he somehow survived.
A source close to the Ineos faction said they were “disgusted” when they visited United last year. Ten Hag’s authority was total when the Ineos delegation arrived in Manchester back in March 2023. Less than a year later, Ratcliffe declined to assess Ten Hag’s tenure.
The latest from Old Trafford
Ten Hag got wind of simmering dismay among the squad over his disciplinary methods when United returned from their taxing pre-season tour of the United States last year. As soon as he compromised on that he was on a hiding to nothing.
During Ten Hag’s first tour in Thailand and Australia, he made a favourable impression. He talked a good game, United were sharp in ball retention exercises, the punitive push-ups were accepted without protestation (apart from Aaron Wan-Bissaka) and those of us who followed the squad from Bangkok to Perth, via Melbourne, awoke to an email on our final morning from ‘Erik ten Hag Manager’.
“As a memento of the trip, I have asked my team to organise a player-signed shirt for each of you and we will be back in touch soon to arrange this.” That personal touch is lacking among many managers.
Ten Hag was not the smoothest of communicators but, away from cameramen fixed on his every word and tick, he was more candid and relaxed. The two of us who were in Melbourne and Cadiz for those privileged sit downs would attest to that. The longest-serving members of the Manchester press pack say Ten Hag is the most amenable of the post-Ferguson managers.
At the Montecastillo Hotel in Cadiz, where United spent their winter training camp in December 2022, we were granted access to the full session laden with innovative drills. At its conclusion, a beaming Ten Hag greeted us all and announced, “Now we will have a good lunch.”
We were under the impression we would have half-an-hour with Ten Hag and then tuck into a spread. We had nearly two hours in his presence, discussing football over exquisite Spanish tapas and coffee.
Such intimate gatherings are scarce and it would have benefited both sides to have arranged more throughout Ten Hag’s time. He was more approachable than his gruff image in press conferences sometimes suggested.
The worst and best of Ten Hag’s United in that first season came as early as his second and third matches in charge. He was so incandescent he "wanted to kill" the players after the Brentford horror show in August 2022.
Ten Hag not only participated in the punishing 8.5 mile run the following day but screened the 4-0 drubbing in full to the players. The video nasty was necessary and United channelled that negativity into the uplifting victory over Liverpool eight days later.
Ten Hag was grateful for the extended gap of nine days between the fixtures and the performances were like night and day. Harry Maguire, the club captain, and Cristiano Ronaldo were dropped. Ten Hag had set out his stall. United inflicted a first domestic defeat of the calendar year on Liverpool.
In reflecting on the Brentford and Liverpool results, Ten Hag muttered, "f*****g hell". Those two words encapsulated two drastically different performances.
Eventually, the players struggled to respond to Ten Hag’s motivational methods. United players tired of Ten Hag’s stock phrase they “failed to follow the rules”. When that was reported by this correspondent last September, Ten Hag never uttered those five words again until the shellacking by Palace in early May.
One player bitterly suggested Ten Hag was on a “power trip” early last season. The training times were described as “all over the place” by a source at Carrington. Many club staff liked Ten Hag but also felt he could be emotionally detached and his lack of warmth became an issue when results nosedived.
Gradually, Ten Hag’s authority eroded. He was not solely responsible for the banning of four journalists from a press conference in December. That was ostensibly decided by Ten Hag, former football director John Murtough and members of the communications department, including the seldom-seen chief communications officer Ellie Norman, who was based in the south. Norman left after two years in the summer.
During Ferguson’s era, if a journalist was banned it was Ferguson who did the banning. A newspaper was not granted entry to a Ten Hag press conference in November over a story that he was on “thin ice”.
The next time the newspaper’s patch reporter saw Ten Hag, he succinctly smoothed things over. Ten Hag was completely oblivious to the newspaper's absence the previous week. He was so nonplussed by club-journalist relations he offered this correspondent a wave prior to kick-off at Chelsea in April and warmly shook hands at Selhurst Park last month.
Representatives of other newspapers were denied questions at some Ten Hag press conferences as punishment for negative yet accurate coverage in their publications. This was deemed newsworthy in April when three newspapers, including the Manchester Evening News, were denied questions at three press conferences in the wake of the Coventry farce. Why? We had written that United should or would change their manager.
Whilst this petty practice was enforced (not by Ten Hag), Bruno Fernandes said: “Being a Manchester United player demands being ready to receive as much criticism as praise. We receive praise when we do good things, so we can’t be annoyed by the criticism.”
Kees Vos, Ten Hag’s agent, was more prominent at Old Trafford than any previous manager’s representative. It extended to visits to Carrington and he even attended a press conference.
Last year, Vos brazenly posed for a picture outside the home dressing room in the Old Trafford tunnel with the caption, “My wife and I have a different meaning of the word ‘home’ these days.” Too close to home. Several agency sources felt Vos’s visibility harmed Ten Hag.
Another agent accused Vos of attempting to sell his client, a United player. A homegrown player who was sold had been banished to the academy building and Ten Hag did not bother to bid farewell. Long-serving staff were appalled.
Ten Hag arrived late for a press conference in his first season and apologised. He was jokingly asked if he would fine himself, given his dim view of tardy timekeeping. Ten Hag laughed. The late arrivals were more frequent in his second season and an apology was never forthcoming.
When United staff defended Fernandes over a snide TikTok post by Fulham’s official account in February, they stressed their issue was not with Fulham but the mischaracterisation of Fernandes as a diver. Hours later, Ten Hag called for Fulham to apologise. “That didn’t go as planned,” a United onlooker admitted.
One afternoon at Carrington, journalists were streaming into the press conference room while the United players were still training outside. Before anybody could have a peek, the blinds started to come down. A security minder, formerly military police, started to follow Ten Hag into the room. United seemed to implement more defensive measures off the pitch than on it.
As early as last October, one of the coaches voiced misgivings about Ten Hag. “It sounds so bad,” a source privy to one such conversation said. A dropped player confronted Ten Hag over his contradictory team selections.
Ten Hag had plenty on his plate: the Ronaldo drama, parting ways with the popular De Gea, the abandoned reintegration of Mason Greenwood, banishing Jadon Sancho, the allegations against Antony, Rashford’s extracurricular activities, the unhinged publicist with an axe to grind, the 13-month strategic review and changes at boardroom and structural level.
His handling of Ronaldo, Sancho and De Gea were nigh-on faultless. Jettisoning all three was logical and relatively swift. Rashford’s broken relationship with matchgoers last season signalled backing for the manager. Ten Hag only erred with the intended recall of Greenwood.
As much as United endeavoured to improve the character of the squad, the dressing room was not fumigated thoroughly enough. A member of one player’s entourage who took exception to criticism bragged, “Don’t worry, we have plenty of notes to dry our tears.” A relative of the same player dubbed Ten Hag ‘Goldmember’, after the Dutch antagonist in the third Austin Powers film.
Uncertainty at hierarchical level reprieved Ten Hag. Former chief executive Richard Arnold was defending the Glazers and Ten Hag until he jumped before he was pushed by Ineos. A legendary former player said Arnold “couldn’t see the wood for the trees”.
Arnold initiated a mole hunt after Greenwood’s planned return to the squad was leaked. It was ongoing even after Arnold vacated his seat in the directors’ box. Theories pointed to a known senior figure who had become marginalised.
Ten Hag’s easy excuse was an injury crisis. There were 66 separate cases of injury or illness that caused a player to miss a game last season. Luke Shaw and Lisandro Martinez, the two players whose lengthy absences Ten Hag rued the most, were sidelined after risky returns.
Some established players privately blamed Ten Hag’s intense training methods for the injury toll. His running demands were compared to the former Leeds United coach Marcelo Bielsa by a player who frequents the same circles as past and present Leeds players. One-time United target Kalvin Phillips was “amazed” Manchester City signed him in 2022 as he was exhausted by Bielsa.
A United player often played within himself as he was concerned he would succumb to a serious injury. Shaw regretted that he played against Luton on February 18, having come off at half-time against Aston Villa a week earlier. Shaw did not last the first half at Kenilworth Road and has not played for United since.
Carrington sources said Ten Hag treated recovery days more seriously than any United manager since Van Gaal yet it was telling the players were allocated a day off after the 2-2 draw with Liverpool on April 7. Ten Hag spent his day away from Carrington lunching at a vegan cafe in Hale.
Training schedules were sometimes switched from 9am to 12pm and players were also no longer required to stay for lunch in the plush Carrington canteen. The sense of chaos was apparent during one day in September when United communicated three different intended times for a press conference.
However many injuries United had to contend with, this was Ten Hag’s squad. While Casemiro was sidelined with a hamstring injury last season, there was a specialist alternative in loanee Sofyan Amrabat. Amrabat went nearly five months without starting a Premier League game. When he was belatedly recalled in early May, he played his way into the Cup final XI.
A source said Casemiro became naturally demotivated as he “didn’t sign up” for another struggle to qualify for the Champions League. The circumstances of his 11th-hour withdrawal from the FA Cup final squad were suspicious but United travelled with a squad member more than usual, which indicated a fitness issue.
Every midfielder bar Scott McTominay debuted on Ten Hag’s watch. Ten Hag did not get Frenkie de Jong or Jude Bellingham but United parted with £130m to recruit Casemiro and Mason Mount, a midfield mismatch. Amrabat commanded a €10m loan fee. Manuel Ugarte has started four of the past five games on the bench.
Ten Hag would rather have had Bellingham than Mount and Harry Kane over Hojlund. Bellingham was unattainable but Kane was gettable. United lacked ambition, deterred by dealing with the Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy.
Benjamin Sesko was a preferred ‘potential’ target ahead of Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee. Sesko sensibly rejected United in the summer of 2022 but his agent has held subsequent meetings with the club.
Mount and Hojlund were dubious additions. United claimed their three major summer signings in 2023 were their first choice. Only goalkeeper Andre Onana was.
The consensus among an influential dressing room coterie was that Mount had not joined United for footballing reasons. The lack of goals from Wout Weghorst and the callow Hojlund were held against Ten Hag by portions of the dressing room.
Hojlund was reputedly offered to West Ham United for £23m early last year and many remain mystified that United agreed a fee more than three times that, even with Paris Saint-Germain’s bid in late July. Murtough left the pre-season tour after the defeat to Real Madrid in Houston to finalise a £72m move for Hojlund amid PSG’s advances.
Hojlund switched to SEG once United intended to strike a deal. United downplayed efforts by Vos to sign up other United players when at least one youngster felt frozen out as he refused to join Vos’s stable at SEG. The agency eventually backed off after a polite warning. SEG took over representation of the FA Youth Cup winner Sam Mather in the summer.
Jonny Evans, a chance recruit, was fourth on relegation fodder Everton’s list of central defensive targets last year. The 36-year-old Evans played 30 times in his homecoming season and is one of the few successful signings of the Ten Hag era.
Ten Hag’s autonomy in recruitment was a throwback to a bygone era and undermined Murtough, who eventually left in April. Burnley players laughed upon learning United had signed Weghorst, unpopular at Turf Moor, on loan in January 2023.
Weghorst was such a big fish in a small pond at Burnley he lobbied chairman Alan Pace to sack Sean Dyche. His Burnley teammates were more concerned by Weghorst’s dire win percentage in aerial duels. Weghorst scraped two tap-in goals in 31 appearances for United but Ten Hag subjectively felt he was a success.
Some United players have never taken to Antony. One was dismayed by his behaviour towards staff in the canteen, though a well-placed United source described the exchanges as more convivial.
Antony went rogue with an unauthorised statement to an external channel regarding allegations of domestic abuse in England and Brazil. It did not go unnoticed by staff at United that the same channel coincidentally revealed Antony-related team news. Members of the dressing room were never sold on Antony and Hojlund, Ten Hag’s two most expensive buys.
Leaks have dripped out of United since time immemorial and Ferguson described the club as a “sieve” in one of his last interviews as manager. In recent years, they have started to cause greater offence yet Ineos have reputedly leaked United-related tidbits to a favoured publication. A youngster’s sibling was so loose-lipped it was obvious they were the source of separate team news revelations. A known member of staff left amid accusations they were a renowned leaker.
A United player admitted some squad members were reluctant to pass the ball to Hojlund. Another expressed frustration at Garnacho’s supposed refusal to service fellow forwards when there was scant evidence of that.
Hojlund was in an invidious position as an unproven headline striker signing. A senior United official suggested during the 2023 pre-season that he could rotate with Rashford, effectively discounting Martial when he still had the ‘9’ affixed to the back of his shirt.
After the defeat at West Ham two days before last Christmas, a couple of colleagues in the mixed zone asked Wan-Bissaka if he would mind stopping to speak. Wan-Bissaka paused, approached the reporters, briefly stared at them, said nothing and turned away. Advancing, only to pause and backtrack is in keeping with the £50m right back’s attacking reticence. Ten Hag and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer both looked to replace him.
Sancho gained little sympathy over accusing Ten Hag of lying. A number of teammates had become frustrated with his lack of urgency on the ball and one bluntly described the winger as “slow as s**t”. Some senior teammates advised Sancho to apologise to Ten Hag. He never did.
A long-serving player became so disenchanted his father, an ever-present at most games, briefly stopped attending. When collared as to why he missed the remarkable revival against Brentford last October, he scoffed, “Why would I want to come here for that?”
Rashford’s struggles left some opponents staggered. “It must be frustrating for United fans to watch Rashford because honestly, if he wanted to he could have destroyed us,” an opposition player said. “But he chose to not be in the game. He has everything to be one of the world’s best but just chooses not to do it rather than he can’t.”
Rashford has been more engaged this season but he was substituted before the hour at West Ham in his final appearance under Ten Hag.
Players were thrown by Ten Hag’s preparation for the 3-1 defeat to Brighton in September 2023 when he sprung a diamond formation on them. Rashford was dismayed to start the season at centre forward after a career-best campaign on the left wing. His goals output plummeted from 30 to eight.
Raphael Varane was unhappy with a run of one start in 13 games and unimpressed by the rudderless state of the club. United miscommunicated the expiry date of Varane’s contract before he was released.
As recently as this season, an opposition manager got wind of Ten Hag’s tactical alteration after he was tipped off by one of his players. The player is an international teammate of one of the United players, who told him where he would be playing hours before kick-off.