Erik ten Hag will inherit the worst Old Trafford team since the late 1980s and has it all to prove in a comprehensive rebuild “Big place, this,” Sir Alex Ferguson would say as he gazed around Old Trafford in the early days, a sense of awe in those gruff tones. Big job, too. When Ferguson took over from Ron Atkinson as the Manchester United manager in November 1986, the club were fourth from bottom of the old First Division and the culture was all wrong, especially in the playing squad, where there was too much boozing and not enough achieving.There will doubtless be a moment when the scale of it all hits Erik ten Hag, who was confirmed on Thursday...
The Dutchman will seek to bring warmth and coherence to an ailing celebrity club – it would be hard work for any managerWelcome to Manchester, Erik. We’ve been expecting you. Here it comes at last, the latest rummage, the latest mystery gift from the Manchester United managerial lucky dip.There is a game you can play with the managerial appointments of the post-Ferguson years. This is an appointment process so refined it has, to date, dished up five random, ill-fitting, hilariously oscillating selections in the course of the past decade. Continue reading...
We look at five significant matters the new manager must tackle, including the areas where signings are most urgentThe big and loaded question: can the manager actually wield enough influence over the beast that is Manchester United to do it his way? This is a chicken-egg conundrum because winning games and trophies convinces players and the executive but conviction is required from players and the executive for the manager to have his decisions backed and to be a winning No 1. Then there is the club’s particular byzantine brew of politics and peccadilloes. At United Richard Arnold is the chief executive but the real finger on the button is across the Atlantic. And there are six: one for each of...