Manchester United have sacked manager Erik ten Hag following a string of poor performances that left the club languishing in 14th place in the Premier League, with only three wins out of their first nine matches.
Ten Hag’s departure comes on the heels of a 2-1 defeat to West Ham on Sunday, a loss that ultimately sealed his fate with United’s board.
Ruud van Nistelrooy, who joined as Ten Hag’s assistant last summer, has been appointed interim manager, with the club confirming he will lead the team “while a permanent head coach is recruited.”
Ten Hag, 54, took the reins at United in the summer of 2022, arriving after a successful stint at Ajax. He made an immediate impact by guiding United to a third-place Premier League finish in his first season and capturing the Carabao Cup, marking United’s first major trophy in six years.
Additionally, he led them to the FA Cup final, where they narrowly lost to Manchester City. Despite these early successes, Ten Hag’s second season failed to meet expectations. United crashed out of the Champions League in the group stages, and after a promising preseason, their league form deteriorated, with only one win in their last eight matches across all competitions.
The pressure on Ten Hag grew after Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos group acquired a 27.7% stake in the club in December 2023. Ratcliffe had publicly voiced concerns about issues within the club that extended beyond just the managerial role, hinting at deeper structural problems.
“In the past 11 years, Manchester United have had a lot of coaches and nobody has been successful in that environment,” Ratcliffe stated in February. “That says to me there is something wrong with the environment.”
The decision to part ways with Ten Hag highlights United’s struggles to establish stability since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013. The club is now embarking on a search for its sixth permanent manager in just over a decade, hoping to find someone who can bring consistency and long-term success.
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