Erik ten Hag thinks he can fix Manchester United and that shouldn’t surprise anyone. In fact, expect this to be a prerequisite for accepting what is probably the hardest job in managing football. However, there were four more men who succeeded Sir Alex Ferguson permanently before him and also an interim manager, and they all believed the same thing.
Ten Hag knows one of his predecessors relatively well. During his presentation at Old Trafford on Monday at lunchtime, he revealed that he had spoken to Louis van Gaal at the premiere of a documentary about the life of the head coach of the Netherlands in Amsterdam last month. A couple of weeks earlier, Van Gaal had publicly advised him to reject United’s progress and “join a football club, not a commercial club”.
Can you imagine a message similar to the premiere, and getting to know Van Gaal, in even stronger terms? But it clearly did not influence Ten Hag’s thinking. “I heard [Van Gaal’s comments], but I draw my own line. I am convinced that this will not be the case, “said the new United coach. It’s one, two, three at this club. “