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Erik ten Hag rules out Man United bus parade if they win Carabao Cup

  /  autty

Manchester United manager Erik Ten Hag has dismissed the prospect of holding an open top bus parade if his side win the Carabao Cup and will only consider sanctioning a mass celebration if they win two trophies this season.

Ten Hag is understood to have dismissed any notion of a parade out of hand as he will immediately switch focus to preparing his side for Wednesday's FA Cup fifth-round tie against West Ham after Sunday's EFL Cup final.

The Dutchman's attitude is in stark contrast to that of opponents Newcastle, who as Sportsmail revealed earlier this week have planned a city centre parade for Tuesday if Eddie Howe's side win their first major trophy for 54 years at Wembley.

United have not even discussed the issue in recent weeks as Ten Hag's attitude to such matters is well known at the club.

In a remarkable change of fortunes since he took charge last summer United remain in contention for four trophies under Ten Hag having progressed to the last-16 of the Europa League with a thrilling win over Barcelona on Thursday night, and are still involved in the Premier League title race, five points behind leaders Arsenal.

Ten Hag has told United staff that he will consider taking part in a parade at the end of the season, but only if his side win two trophies rather than just the Carabao Cup.

United haven't won a piece of silverware since Jose Mourinho's team lifted both the EFL Cup and the UEFA Europa League in the 2016-17 season.

They last held an open top bus parade through the streets of Manchester in 2013, when they won the last of their Premier League titles in Sir Alex Ferguson's final season.

The most famous came after they won the Treble of Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League back in 1999, when tens of thousands packed the streets.

Their rivals Liverpool held a victory parade to show off the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup last season but it had been hoped they'd be celebrating a Quadruple.

They were pipped to the Premier League title by Manchester City on the final day and lost the Champions League final to Real Madrid.

As Sportsmail revealed earlier this week, Newcastle will not stage a parade if they lose Sunday's final at Wembley but if their 54-year wait for silverware does end, they will show off the trophy to supporters on Tuesday next week.

The club arranged parades after losing in the 1974, 1998 and 1999 FA Cup finals.

Club legend Alan Shearer has spoken about how those parades felt in the late Nineties.

'It was like, 'Do we really have to do a parade the next day?'. Just cancel it, we haven't got an FA Cup to show off,' he told the BBC.

'We did an open-top bus parade after being beaten twice in the Cup finals and you think, 'How f*****g stupid is this?'.

'But it just shows how desperate Newcastle fans are for success, because there were hundreds of thousands of fans from Gosforth Park to the Civic Centre. It was unbelievable. Absolutely outrageous. Then we had to say thanks at the Civic Centre. It was embarrassing.'

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