Erik ten Hag appears to have won the race to become Manchester United ’s next manager, beating off competition from the likes of Mauricio Pochettino.
United have held formal contract talks with the Ajax boss and are prepared to trigger the 52-year-old’s release clause in his contract with the Dutch club. Ten Hag impressed United’s football director John Murtough and technical director Darren Fletcher and will take over the reins in June, once the Eredivisie season is concluded.
He has beaten Paris Saint-Germain’s Pochettino, Spain boss Luis Enrique and Sevilla’s Julen Lopetegui to the role, which will become available when Ralf Rangnick steps down as interim boss at the end of the current season.
It seems that United’s hierarchy have made up their mind, but will the appointment go down well with the club’s legends? Here is what 10 of them have said about the managerial recruitment process and who they have backed for the job.
Wayne Rooney
United’s record goalscorer appeared on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football programme and gave his thoughts on his former club’s search for a new manager.
He said : "I think Pochettino's done it in the Premier League, he knows the Premier League. At Tottenham he bought through a lot of young players – the same at Southampton. So if I'm choosing from one of them two I'd go for Pochettino – and give him time.
"Managers now they need time to come in and put their blueprint on the club and the team and given time I think he'll do well." He continued: "Pochettino in my opinion is a top manager. He knows how to work with top class players but also with young players. They need to get that blend right because they can't afford to fail again."
Gary Neville
Neville is one of the most influential ex-players in the media, so his opinion tends to carry plenty of weight. Like Rooney, he has thrown his weight behind Pochettino .
Last month Neville used Twitter to post a poll pitting Ten Hag against Pochettino. The results were overwhelming with Ten Hag scooping over 80 per cent of almost 200,000 votes, but the former defender went against the grain with his take. On March 23, he tweeted: “Personally I would go for Pochettino but Ten Hag is the massive favourite of United fans to take the club forward. That’s if it is a clear choice between the 2.”
Paul Scholes
Scholes has not given his take since Ten Hag emerged as the clear frontrunner, but last month he gave his thoughts – and backed an aggressive approach for Tottenham boss Antonio Conte or Chelsea ’s Thomas Tuchel.
"I would have gone for Conte or Tuchel," Scholes said on BT Sport. "It looks like one might be available at the end of the season. Those are two top class coaches that strike fear into players and win, which is the most important thing. United, with either one of those managers, would be much better off."
Rio Ferdinand
Ferdinand is always talking about United and his opinion is far from straightforward. Speaking on his Vibe with Five Youtube channel on March 28, the ex-defender spoke about Ten Hag, Pochettino and Tuchel without definitively picking one.
“Ten Hag, the way his team plays, if you could replicate that at Man United, now we are talking,” he said. “His recruitment is unbelievable there, he has a conveyor belt of talent that comes through that feeds the first team. He deals with rough jewels, people like [Sebastien] Haller, disregarded in England, [Dusan] Tadic, smashing it.”
Ferdinand then discussed Pochettino’s credentials. “I spent a bit of time with him and he really impressed me as a person, him and his staff, men of detail. I would see him thrive and really flourish in an interview. I think he would impress the hierarchy and decision makers at Old Trafford if you have him in front of you. He certainly impressed me. I wouldn’t be disappointed with Pochettino.”
However, it was Tuchel who received the biggest praise. “I’m taking Tuchel man, I don’t care,” Ferdinand said. “If the roles were reversed and Man United were there and had Tuchel as a sitting duck at our football club, we are presuming he’s a sitting duck from the reports we are hearing. If that was the case and the roles were reversed, trust me, Roman and the empire would knock down the door. They wouldn’t even knock down the door, they’d run round the side and take him.
“Tuchel would be the one. He’s got the pedigree. He’s shown already that he can come into this league, he’s adapted straight away, he’s won the Champions League, he can galvanise a squad, he can get them playing. He can create a culture, create a togetherness. He’s got discipline.”
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Paul Parker
Parker recently gave an impassioned defence of Pochettino’s management skills, following PSG’s defeat by Real Madrid in the Champions League last-16. He said on talkSPORT : “I think his management skills have been proven for what he did at Tottenham, the individuals who he made into better players, that’s a big point of being a manager as well.
“Pep [Guardiola] gets patted on the back for the players he has bettered over his time as a manager, he’s won things but he’s bettered players, he’s made teams better. It’s about making teams better, he did can do at Manchester United what he did at Tottenham, can he lift some of their players who in this moment in time are not awake at the moment?”
Paul Ince
Former United midfielder Ince is unequivocal in his take. Speaking on The United Stand podcast recently, he said: “I've always said Poch from the start. Maybe if they had made that appointment two or three years ago we would all be in a much healthier place than what we are now.
"Everyone is coming out and saying what a great coach [Ten Hag] is, but it's not just about coaching when you're at Manchester United. It's about dealing with the egos, big names and making sure they are all thinking from the same hymn sheet, or singing, where there is one common goal.
He added: “Anyone who comes in has got to be able to handle the big stars and pull the changing room back together. I said what I did about Pochettino a few years ago - and things could have been different. He built a very, very good side at Tottenham. You say Pochettino because he has been in the Premier League. He's got that experience and I don't know enough about Ten Hag. I can see why he may get the job, but until the end of this season it's going to be one of them..."
Nicky Butt
Butt has recent experience of the United coaching set-up, having only left the club last summer, and he went for Pochettino. "United need stability," he told FourFourTwo . "They can’t keep having interim managers or learners in very powerful positions. They need people who’ve been there, seen it and done it. I’d go all-out to get Mauricio Pochettino as manager. He’s proven in the Premier League, he’s young and enthusiastic, his style of play would suit United and his backroom staff seem switched on. I met him a couple of times at Spurs’ training ground and had lunch. You’d want to play for him."
Owen Hargreaves
Hargreaves discussed the situation back in November after Rangnick had been appointed as interim manager. He said on BT Sport: "I think [Pochettino] commands respect, I think he demands work from the players. But all these names are great names.
"Brendan [Rodgers] has great experience in the league. Zidane, surely the language barrier has got to be a thing. Ten Hag has done unbelievable with Ajax, but they’re the best team in Holland – is he going to be able to dominate the ball over here in the Premier League like he does in Holland? I think one name that’s not on there, which I’d like to see, is Luis Enrique."
He added: "If you manage a big football club like Barcelona, and you won the treble there, and then you can go and take a pretty average team to a semi-final [of Euro 2020] in Spain, I think that’s the type of guy [United need]," he explained. “And he’s only managing the national team, so I think he could come in and do the job now. I think he would transform United from a good team into a great team."
Teddy Sheringham
Sheringham is one of the many to like the sound of Pochettino in the Old Trafford dug-out. “When you look at certain managers around and how they play the game, I think for me, Pochettino controls the ball like Pep Guardiola,” he told The Sun recently. “It’s not about defending, and hitting other people on the break and working your way around that. He wants to dominate the ball.
“It’s what Manchester United fans demand, and I think he would be the ideal manager. I know he’s had a blip again in the last Champions League game and everyone’s saying ‘it’s Pochettino, he can’t whatever’, but I think the way he plays the game, and his philosophies on football, I think he’d be ideal for Manchester United.”
Lee Sharpe
Sharpe is one of the few to back the approach for Ten Hag. He said on talkSPORT: “I think Erik ten Hag from Ajax looks decent, and Julian Nagelsmann from Bayern Munich would be a good option. It’s a very difficult decision and one that they desperately need to get right after so many managers having not worked over the last 5-10 years.”
