When Erik ten Hag was unveiled as Bayer Leverkusen’s new manager on May 26, he hailed the prospect of inheriting the Bundesliga runners-up as “an attractive challenge”. It would turn ugly very quickly for the former Manchester United manager.
On Sep. 1, just two games into the new Bundesliga season, Ten Hag was unceremoniously sacked. Never before in the history of the German top flight had a manager lasted only 180 minutes of football, but as Leverkusen’s surprisingly candid upper management subsequently admitted, the doubts began back in pre-season.
