The most damning appraisal from Erik ten Hag came not of the excluded Jadon Sancho but of his immediate predecessors, Ralf Rangnick and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. There was, he said, “no good culture” when he came to Manchester United. Rangnick may concur to some extent: he went public in his frustrations about life at Old Trafford but it is likely to sting Solskjaer, who felt he was restoring some of Sir Alex Ferguson’s principles.
But if Ten Hag sensed a softness when he arrived at United, the Dutchman has proved a hard man, much as the Scot did. More than three decades ago, Ferguson famously addressed a drinking culture, selling the gifted pair of Paul McGrath and Norman Whiteside. Sancho’s indiscretions came on the training pitch and on social media, rather than in the pub, but one of the most expensive buys in United’s history has been omitted, awaiting disciplinary action. There is no timescale for a potential return and no reassurance from Ten Hag’s words. “He is not available, so in this moment, he is not important, because he can’t contribute,” the manager said.
