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Manchester United have sacked Erik ten Hag and put Ruud van Nistelrooy in interim charge after deciding there was no excuse for their current underachievement.
In a unanimous decision by the club’s new hierarchy, the Independent understand, United decided neither results nor performances were good enough to give them reasons to persist with Ten Hag.
United had triggered a one-year contract extension for the Dutchman – though only after speaking to a host of other managers – and in September, new chief executive Omar Berrada said they were “fully backing him” while sporting director Dan Ashworth also gave Ten Hag his support.
But Sunday’s 2-1 defeat at West Ham leaves United 14th in the Premier League and 21st in the Europa League. They have only won four of 14 games in all competitions this season and have not tasted victory in Europe for a year and United concluded they made a mistake by keeping Ten Hag.
They believe the 54-year-old was supported in the summer, when he was allowed to spend around £200m – taking his overall expenditure past £600m – and his five latest signings included two of his former players, in Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui, but have not seen improvement, despite implementing a new structure in place behind the scenes.
Instead, they have started a second successive league season badly and lost a lead in all three European matches. United have a negative goal difference in the Premier League – as they also did last year – and the club do not believe they are on course for a top-four finish.
Ten Hag won trophies in both of his full seasons in charge of United, with the Carabao Cup in 2023 and the FA Cup in 2024, and took them to third in his first campaign at Old Trafford but he led United to their lowest-ever Premier League finish last season, when they only came eighth with a mere 58 points.
Before the FA Cup final victory over Manchester City, United spoke to various other managers, including Thomas Tuchel, Mauricio Pochettino, Roberto de Zerbi, Kieran McKenna and Thomas Frank. They eventually decided to keep Ten Hag and triggered a one-year extension to his contract.
The backroom staff was also overhauled with Van Nistelrooy and Rene Hake joining as assistant managers while Mitchell van der Gaag and Steve McClaren left the club. However, that has not brought a change of fortune.
Ten Hag, who was recruited after a successful time at Ajax, had originally been appointed by the former regime at Old Trafford of former chief executive Richard Arnold and the now-departed football director John Murtough.
The arrival of co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who has taken a 27.7 percent stake in the club, has brought in new powerbrokers in Jean-Claude Blanc, the CEO of Ineos Sport, Sir Dave Brailsford, Ineos’ director of sport, Berrada, Ashworth and Jason Wilcox, United’s technical director. Neither Berrada nor Ashworth had started their jobs when United decided to keep Ten Hag.
Now the Dutchman has become the fifth manager to be sacked since Sir Alex Ferguson retired, following David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Ineos and United will begin their search for a replacement, with Van Nistelrooy only intended to be a short-term appointment.
However, three of the contenders to replace Ten Hag in the summer have already accepted other jobs, with Tuchel due to start in charge of England on 1 January, Pochettino now manager of the United States and De Zerbi at Marseille. Meanwhile, McKenna signed a lucrative new contract with Ipswich.
Former England manager Gareth Southgate, who has admirers at Old Trafford, had also vowed to take a year out of the game after resigning following Euro 2024.
Van Nistelrooy, meanwhile, had a season in charge of PSV Eindhoven in 2022-23, winning the Dutch Cup and finishing second in the Eredivisie. He scored 150 goals in five seasons as a United player.
