Erik ten Hag has been sacked by Manchester United after a miserable start to the season, with the Red Devils languishing in 14th place in the Premier League.
The Dutchman, who had his contract extended until 2026 in July, is likely to walk away with a sizeable compensation package after being sacked by Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos just three months into the new campaign.
Sunday’s 2-1 defeat against West Ham was the final straw for Manchester United bosses, with the club now on three wins, two draws and four defeats in their first nine games of the season.
Casemiro thought he had at least salvaged a point at the London Stadium when he equalized in the 81st minute to cancel out Crysencio Summerville’s goal, but Jarrod Bowen’s controversial injury-time penalty condemned Ten Hag to another disappointing defeat.
Assistant manager and club legend Ruud van Nistelrooy will take over at Old Trafford on an interim basis, while Brentford’s Thomas Frank, Sporting Lisbon’s Ruben Amorim, Borussia Dortmund’s Edin Terzic and former Barcelona boss Xavi have been linked with the position permanently.
Erik ten Hag has been sacked by Manchester United after a disappointing start to the season
Manchester United suffered their fourth league defeat of the season against West Ham on Sunday.
Former United star Ruud van Nistelrooy is the favorite to replace Ten Hag on an interim basis
Edin Terzic (left) and Thomas Frank (right) are among those linked to the permanent job
Thomas Tuchel, who United considered in the summer, has since been named Gareth Southgate’s successor by the Football Association and will take charge of England from January.
Significant pressure had mounted on Ten Hag ahead of the second international break of the season in October, prompting Manchester United to hold an executive meeting in London, headed by Ratcliffe.
The management team opted to keep the Dutchman, while opting to “fire” legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson from his £2.61m ambassadorship at the club.
Ten Hag joined the club in the summer of 2022 and has since won two trophies at Old Trafford: the Carabao Cup during his debut season and the FA Cup at the end of last campaign.
However, Manchester United’s league form worsened significantly during Ten Hag’s reign, with the club finishing eighth last season and currently languishing in the bottom half of the table so far this season.
Ten Hag kept his place at the end of last season thanks to his FA Cup final victory over Manchester City, despite leading the club to its lowest finish in the Premier League era and being eliminated from the group stage of the Champions League.
Ratcliffe had been non-committal about Ten Hag’s future in early October, insisting he did not have the final say on the Dutchman’s fate.
Ten Hag was furious with the referees after a controversial late penalty was awarded to West Ham.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe and United’s senior management met in London earlier this month to discuss Ten Hag’s future and decided to stick with the Dutchman despite a dismal start to the new season.
“I don’t want to answer that question,” he told the BBC when asked if he had faith in the coach.
‘I like Erick. “I think he is a very good manager, but at the end of the day it is not my decision, it is the management team that runs Manchester United that has to decide how to best manage the team in many different aspects.”
“That team that Manchester United manages has only been together since June or July. They weren’t there in January, February, March or April – (CEO) Omar (Berrada), (Sporting Director) Dan Ashworth – they only arrived in July.
‘They’ve only been there… you can count almost in weeks; They haven’t been there for long, so they need to take stock and make some sensible decisions.
“Our objective is very clear: we want to take Manchester United back to where it should be, and obviously we are not there yet, that is very clear.”
Before Sunday’s loss to West Ham, Manchester United drew 1-1 against José Mourinho’s Fenerbahce in the Europa League.
Alejandro Garnacho and Rasmus Hojlund had inspired the Red Devils to a comeback victory over Brentford the previous weekend, but the draw in Turkey prevented United from gaining momentum and subsequently led to the decisive defeat at West Ham.
United’s FA Cup victory was seen as the reason Ten Hag kept his job, despite leading the Red Devils to their worst result in the Premier League era and an early exit from Europe.
Manchester United are still searching for the manager who can return them to their glory days following the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson at the end of the 2012-13 season.
United will be eager to find the right appointment to succeed Ten Hag after failing to win the Premier League title for the last 11 years.
Ten Hag joins David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, José Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick as managers who have failed to return Manchester United to their trophy-laden years under Sir Alex Ferguson.
He leaves behind a host of new signings, with United recruiting Joshua Zirkzee, Matthijs de Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui and Manuel Ugarte during the summer window.