Ten Hag: Man utd executives broke promises; sacking Carrick is not the answer

Former Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag gave an in-depth interview to The Athletic's Laurie Whitwell, his first detailed discussion of his time managing Manchester United since his dismissal in October 2024. In the first part of the interview, Ten Hag looked back at unfulfilled promises from the club's hierarchy, Scott McTominay's departure, the process of his own sacking, and his views on current Manchester United manager Carrick.

Since being sacked by Manchester United in October 2024, Ten Hag had not publicly discussed his experiences at the club in detail for two years. However, despite his managerial career ending in dismissal, he still holds deep affection for the club that he led to two trophies.

"I enjoyed every minute at Manchester United; I have very fond memories there," Ten Hag said.

"I always feel connected to Manchester United, and I am a Manchester United fan. The fan base here is incredible, and they have always respected me greatly."

"I really hope Manchester United win, and I hope they regain their success. I hope the club can return to its former heights."

However, that goal still seems distant, as Manchester United is once again in turmoil. Ten Hag knows very well what it means to be at the center of public scrutiny while managing one of the most high-profile clubs in world football.

Regarding Manchester United's management issues, Ten Hag stated: "You need competent management, and you need the right strategy. What is your identity? What is your working method? You need the right organizational structure and high-caliber personnel. And then, you need time."

The conversation then shifted to Carrick, who currently manages Manchester United.

Ten Hag explicitly stated: "Sacking him is not the solution, absolutely not."

"If results don't improve, fans will certainly demand it, because it's an emotional reaction. But you have to make rational decisions."

"He has already shown good managerial ability at Middlesbrough and last season, so he should be allowed to continue his work. I think he also has a good coaching staff."

The Athletic journalist had two evenings of in-depth conversations with Ten Hag in Enschede, a city in eastern Netherlands. This is Ten Hag's hometown, and he now serves as Technical Director at Twente, the club he supported as a child.

This interview aimed to review Ten Hag's two-and-a-half years at Manchester United, as well as to understand his current life and work.

On the eve of the 2024 FA Cup final, Ten Hag appeared close to losing his job as Manchester United manager.

At the time, news of the club contacting potential successors, including Tuchel and De Zerbi, had become public.

However, Manchester United's 2-1 victory over Pep Guardiola's Manchester City in the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium prompted the club's hierarchy to change its decision.

After all, Ten Hag had won two trophies in his two seasons at Manchester United. In addition to the FA Cup, he had also led the team to the League Cup title 15 months prior.

Two weeks later, Ten Hag held crucial negotiations with the Manchester United hierarchy during his vacation in Ibiza, and the club ultimately activated the one-year extension clause in his contract.

Regarding the situation at the time, Ten Hag stated:

"If I only had one year left on my contract, I wouldn't have continued as manager."

"So I told them: 'I need another year on my contract, and we must work together as one to move forward.'"

"They promised me loyalty, promised to support me, and promised to improve communication to ensure we were aligned on all fronts."

"We talked about the existing problems."

"But they didn't keep those promises."

In Ten Hag's view, one of the broken promises from the club was the sale of Scott McTominay.

McTominay scored 10 goals for Manchester United in the 2023-24 season but was ultimately sold to Napoli for €30.5 million in the summer of 2024.

At the exchange rate at the time, this transfer fee was approximately £25.7 million or $33.7 million.

Manchester United sold McTominay to raise funds to sign Ugarte.

Ten Hag stated:

"That's why I was disappointed."

"We had reached an agreement in Ibiza."

"I had clearly said at the time: 'Do not sell Scott McTominay.'"

"We should have remained consistent in the transfer market."

"I gave my reasons: we lacked goal-scoring ability, and Scott could provide goals, and he also had an excellent mental attribute."

"Manchester United runs in his blood."

"So, when they brought up selling him, my answer was: 'No.'"

"But in the end, they sold him anyway."

"This, of course, was very embarrassing and very disappointing for me."

That summer, Ten Hag did get Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui, both of whom he had previously worked with at Ajax.

However, they only ended up working together at Manchester United for two months.

On October 28, 2024, Ten Hag was sacked by Manchester United.

At the time, Manchester United had only secured 11 points from their first 9 Premier League matches, placing them 14th. The day before his dismissal, Manchester United had lost 2-1 away to West Ham United.

Ten Hag remains puzzled by the decision to this day.

"I think it was quite strange to part ways at that point in time."

He pointed out that Manchester United still had a chance to compete for all cup titles at the time.

"All the data showed that our performance was good."

"Okay, we did play two bad games, against Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur, respectively."

In both of those matches, Manchester United lost 0-3 at home.

"But we were moving forward with our plan."

"That process should have been allowed to continue, because the team's performance was improving."

Ten Hag believes that most of the players in the Manchester United dressing room still supported him until his dismissal.

"Maybe they would say otherwise, but from their performance on the pitch, I could see they were fighting every game."

"Including my last game in charge, which was probably one of our best performances."

"We should have beaten West Ham United."

"But I am sure the process of sacking me had already begun before that."

"Some people already knew what was going to happen the next day, and perhaps even some within the team knew."

In fact, Ten Hag had noticed some anomalies three days before his dismissal.

At the time, Manchester United had drawn 1-1 away to José Mourinho's Fenerbahçe in the Europa League.

Ten Hag had always believed that Manchester United had the ability to win the Europa League that season.

However, Manchester United ultimately reached the final under Amorim, losing 0-1 to Tottenham Hotspur in Bilbao.

Ten Hag recalled:

"I can read a situation."

"When you see some people suddenly not appearing in Istanbul, you realize something is happening."

"But even so, given everything that happened that summer, and how they had apologized for their actions and said we would build the team together, it was still surprising."

"Our goal was to win the Europa League."

"I believe that when you choose a manager who has proven his ability by winning trophies and reaching finals in the past two seasons, suddenly changing managers is not good club management."

"I did watch that Europa League final, but by then everything had already changed."

For Ten Hag, strong mental resilience was crucial.

He consistently maintained a firm stance when facing external criticism, which raises the question: does a manager need a strong sense of self-awareness to avoid being consumed by the pressures of managing a club the size of Manchester United?

Ten Hag replied:

"I don't have an inflated ego, but I do have confidence."

"This isn't about me personally; it's about the club."

"I can accept new management coming in and wanting to appoint their own people."

"But you should at least tell me directly."

Jim Ratcliffe's investment in Manchester United was officially announced on December 24, 2023, followed by a series of changes in the club's management.

Sir Dave Brailsford joined the club's board.

In January 2024, Omar Berrada was appointed CEO but did not officially take office until July of the same year.

Dan Ashworth also did not complete his gardening leave until July, so he did not participate in the Ibiza negotiations, later officially taking on the role of Sporting Director.

Christopher Vivell also joined Manchester United in July, initially as interim Head of Recruitment.

Jason Wilcox had been working at the club since April, in the role of Technical Director.

Ten Hag stated:

"The acquisition process brought a lot of noise."

"There was uncertainty about personnel, and the normal functioning of the club was disrupted."

"Therefore, it obviously became very difficult for the manager and the coaching staff to do their jobs."

"The whole situation was very complicated."

As early as 2021, when Nice was looking for a new manager, Ten Hag was interviewed by Ratcliffe and his brother Bob.

Therefore, when Ratcliffe's INEOS Group acquired a stake in Manchester United, Ten Hag initially had positive expectations.

"However, after the first meeting at Carrington, he started talking about the club's organizational structure and how the manager should transition into a coach primarily responsible for training and matches."

"I said: 'Okay, we can discuss this, but my contract doesn't stipulate that.'"

"After that, I never heard anything back."

"Later, in every press conference at Manchester United, journalists would ask me if the club's organizational structure should change."

"I always wanted to work with other departments of the club, because you can't do everything alone."

"You need to define the club's philosophy, playing style, the overall characteristics of the team, and the individual characteristics of each player."

"This is how I have always been accustomed to working."

"But with the new management, there was no communication between us."

This became a precursor to a series of subsequent problems.

Before the 2024 FA Cup final, media repeatedly reported that Manchester United was interviewing potential successors to Ten Hag, but Ten Hag himself received no clear information.

"There was a lot of speculation in the last two months."

"Articles appeared every week."

"I was able to deal with these things well, but obviously, we were already facing some problems at the time."

When asked why he didn't proactively seek an explanation from management, Ten Hag said:

"I believed at the time that I was the best manager for Manchester United, so there was no need to delve into these matters."

"I just focused on my team."

"We still had a chance to win a trophy, which was the FA Cup, and that was very important."

"So, we ultimately did it."

"I can say that celebrating the victory at Wembley was the best moment of my time living in Manchester."

AF's PC site is now live! Browse full news, comments, match details and stats on your computer. Visit: www.allfootballapp.com