Manchester United sack manager and announce club’s former striker as interim replacement

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has been sacked after a string of bad results.

The Dutchman, 54, was informed on Monday morning after two and a half years in charge, a day after the team lost 2-1 at West Ham.

A statement from the club said: “We are grateful to Erik for everything he has done during his time with us and wish him well for the future.”

Ruud van Nistelrooy, the former United striker who was assistant manager, will take charge of the team as interim head coach while a permanent head coach is recruited.

Follow live: Ferdinand and Neville react – and reasons why Ten Hag lost his job

Ten Hag survived a summer review by the club’s hierarchy after an FA Cup final victory over rivals Manchester City in May and was even given a contract extension in July.

It came despite United ending last season in eighth place – their lowest-ever Premier League finish – and crashing out of the Champions League before Christmas.

A series of bad results, including 3-0 home defeats to Tottenham and Liverpool, seriously dented the side’s start to the Premier League season this year, in which they have won only three times.

Sunday’s defeat left them 14th in the Premier League with 11 points from nine games – a start that Sky News sports correspondent Rob Harris called “woeful”.

Ten Hag, who spent over £600m in transfer fees during his tenure, is United’s fifth manager in the 11 years since club legend Sir Alex Ferguson retired, and the team has not won the Premier League in that time.

The lacklustre results are “not just a Ten Hag issue but he has really struggled”, Harris says, adding that the manager has “cut quite a despondent figure at times”.

Sky Sports News understands that Ten Hag’s sacking, which will cost United around £13.5million, was a unanimous decision by the club’s board in the wake of the West Ham defeat.

It was felt the club’s on-field results were not good enough and there were no excuses for the position United are in, although Ten Hag is understood to have been ‘taken aback’ by the timing of his dismissal, Sky Sports News said.

Ten Hag signed a three-year deal with United in 2022, taking over from the club’s interim coach Ralf Rangnick after former coach and club legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer departed.

United won the Carabao Cup in 2023 and beat rivals Manchester City – the Premier League champions – to win the 2024 FA Cup final in a surprise 2-1 victory at Wembley at the end of last season.

Ten Hag has frequently defended his record at United, pointing to winning these two trophies in his two full seasons in charge.

But these moments of glory did not end the doubts about his leadership.

Former United defender Gary Neville said he did not think “anyone will be truly shocked” after his old side sacked Ten Hag.

Speaking to Sky Sports, he pointed to a lack of “identity and style” during Ten Hag’s spell in charge and said watching them play has been “a real struggle” and has been “as bad as the results”.

Neville said player recruitment “has been awful at times”, but “no one watches United and doesn’t think the players are better than what they are showing”.

The former captain said he “thought it [Ten Hag’s dismissal] was coming” as “the results and performances have meant that the owners have decided to sack him.”

Another ex-United player, Clayton Blackmore, agreed that Ten Hag’s dismissal “was coming”.

United’s owners had given him enough time, Blackmore said, and the Dutchman “couldn’t be upset, because he hadn’t succeeded on the pitch”.

The former Wales international said the interim boss would make a good permanent replacement for Ten Hag, as few of the other candidates “would have the CV he [van Nistelrooy] has got”.

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He said he would prefer to see a “homer” [a former United player] appointed as full-time manager as they would “know what the club’s all about, the history”, which would “lift everyone, the fans would love it”.

Blackmore was not enthused by the prospect of former England boss Gareth Southgate taking over, as he felt the Three Lions should have won something while he was in charge.

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The main task of whoever does come to Old Trafford is “to get the team playing as a team”, and he “wouldn’t say no” to Thomas Frank, whose Brentford players “work so hard as a team and they’re getting their rewards from that.”

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who became a part-owner of United – with control of footballing matters – in February, said he wanted to restore the greatness of United and knock current Premier League champions Manchester City “off their perch”.

Asked recently about Ten Hag’s future, Sir Jim said he liked the coach but that results needed to improve – adding that changing the manager was not his decision to make.

Interim head coach van Nistelrooy is considered a United legend, having scored 150 goals in 219 appearances and completed the clean sweep of domestic trophies.

Since retiring as a player in 2013, he has had some coaching experience and most notably won the KNVB Cup during a stint as PSV Eindhoven boss.